Jeanne Yvonne Pinard was born on March 14, 1914 in South Hadley, Mass. She was the only child of Joseph A. and Elvina F. (Maigret) Pinard. After graduating from South Hadley High School in 1931, Pinard entered Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in French. She graduated in 1935 then remained at Mount Holyoke to complete an M.A. in Education in 1936. From September 1936 through July 1937, she worked in South Hadley and in Syracuse, N.Y. as a research assistant for the National Research Project of the Work Projects Administration (WPA). She married George L. Bird of Syracuse, N.Y. in September 1937. In 1950 she and her husband had a son. She died on June 5, 1953 at the age of 39.