Biography

08/13/1900 - 09/20/1984

POLEN, Joseph Dean, a Representative from Washington County; born, August 13, 1900 in New Alexandria, Jefferson County, Oh.; educated in public schools; clerk, telegraph operator, car distributor, chief clerk, and agent, Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway (32 years); president, Polen Coal Company; president, McIntyre Creek Coal Company; partner, State Line Coal Company; elected, secretary, vice-president and president, Independence Township School Board (1933-1951); member, Washington County Democratic Executive Committee; member, Washington County Young Democrats; elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1940; reelected to the House in 1944, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964; appointed, Joint State Government Commission, Sub-Committee on Finance Companies (1945-1946); appointed, Local Govenrment Commission (1954); appointed, Commission on Interstate Cooperation (1955-1956, 1963-1966); appointed, Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (1961-1962); appointed, Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority; appointed, Legislative Commission on Space; appointed, State Board of Public Welfare; appointed, State and Local Welfare Commission; member, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; unsuccessful campaigns for reelection to the House (1942, 1946); not a candidate for reelection to the House (1956, 1966); died, September 20, 1984 in Harrison County, Ohio; interred, Fairview Cemetery, Jewett, Harrison County, Ohio.