Warren was born on June 22, 1949,[10][11] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to working class parents Pauline (née Reed) and Donald Jones Herring.[12][13][14] She was their fourth child, with three older brothers.[15] When Warren was 12, her father, a janitor, had a heart attack—which led to many medical bills, as well as a pay cut because he could not do his previous work.[16] Eventually, this led to the loss of their car from failure to make loan payments. To help the family finances, her mother found work in the catalog order department at Sears.[17] When she was 13, Warren started waiting tables at her aunt's restaurant.[15][18]