Dates

• Existence: 1912-

Biography

Josephine "Jo" Hirons Pullen, teacher, artist, poet and author, was born to Frank G. Hirons and Edith Culp Hirons on December 3, 1912 on a farm outside of Early, Iowa. Josephine Hirons graduated in 1933 from the Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) with degrees in art, English, and drama. Along with her interest in art, she displayed a life-long interest in poetry and writing. Hirons taught art in various Iowa schools until she married Charles Pullen in 1938. The couple moved to Ida Grove, Iowa, where Jo Pullen assisted her husband in starting a rural electric co-op, a local business cooperative that provided electricity for rural homes in the Ida Grove area. During this time, Pullen also began writing a column titled "Ida Says" for the Ida Grove newsletter Ida News, which was published by her husband´s company. Pullen resumed teaching art in the early 1960s in Ida Grove, but returned to Early, Iowa, a few years after her husband´s death in 1972. Pullen continued to write and began having poetry published in 1978. She later wrote articles for Acres of News, the newsletter of a local retirement community.

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