Biography

03/08/1903 - 02/07/1979

Weldon Brinton Heyburn (D9) Delaware County 1937-1938 (R9) Delaware County 1939-1948

Early Life: 

Weldon Brinton Heyburn born, March 8, 1903 Concordville, Delaware County, Pennsylvania; son of Harry Hannum and Margaret E. Darlington Heyburn; attended, public and private Quaker schools, Maplewood Academy until age 15, completed his education at home; engaged, dairy, H.H. Heyburn and Sons resigned, 1967; Certified Public Accountant, Ernst & Ernst; elected Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate; 1936-1939; elected Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 1939-1948, elected, President pro tempore, 1947-1948, unsuccessful reelection, 1948; elected, Republican Auditor General, 1949-1953; elected, Republican, State Treasurer, 1953-1956; directed, Constitutional Convention’s executive committee, 1968; married, Dorothy Schmidt, two children; died, February 7, 1979 (aged 75) interment Birmingham-Lafayette Cemetery, Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Member, Manufacturers and Bankers Club of Philadelphia; Free Masons, Moose. 

Pennsylvania Politics: 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 9th district, Delaware County, 1937-1938,re-aligned, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 9th district, Delaware County, 1939-1948; committee assignment, Agriculture (Chairman); Labor and Industry (Chairman, 1939-1940), Finance, (Chairman, 1941-1942), Rules, (Chairman, 1943-1944), elected, President pro tempore, 1947-1948, unsuccessful  reelection, George Robert Watkins. 

Elected, Republican, State Auditor General, 1949-1953. 

Unsuccessful bid, Republican gubernatorial nomination, Governor John Fine, 1950. 

Elected, Republican, State Treasurer, 1953-1956. 

Unsuccessful election, United States Senate; if he had won, he would have been the second Senator Weldon Brinton Heyburn, the first one being his namesake, second cousin once removed, who represented Idaho, 1958.

Directed, Constitutional Convention’s executive committee, 1968. 

Continued Government Service: 

Extended, public service career, 1949-1957, board director, vice president, and executive member, Pennsylvania Motor Federation-AAA; director and president, Keystone Automobile Club of Philadelphia; served, Chair of the Delaware River Port Authority, president of the State Public School Building Association, secretary of the State Highway and Bridge Authority, member of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Commission, president of the American Association of Bridges, Tunnels and Turnpikes.

Delaware director and county representative to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), 1967, resigned, chair, 1973; member of the Board of Governor’s Traffic and Transportation Council of Greater Philadelphia; chaired, Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District, board of directors, Suburban Loan Company. 

Legacy:

Father, Pennsylvania State Representative Harry Hannum Heyburn, 1913-1924. 

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members H". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Delaware County Daily Times, February 9, 1979. 

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 1968, PSL, 35.  

The Pennsylvania Manual., 1937, vol. 83, (Harrisburg: The Commonwealth of Pa., 1938), 781.

Weldon Brinton Heyburn (1903-1979) - Find a Grave Memorial