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- Oklahoma Governor, US Senator. He was the first Republican to hold the Governor's chair in his home state. Bellmon graduated from Billings High School, then earned a degree in agriculture from Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State) in 1942. He served in the US Marine Corps, commanding a tank platoon, from 1942 until 1946, and was awarded the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit for action in the South Pacific. Bellmon had one term in the state legislature, from 1946 to 1948, was state Republican chairman in 1960, and, in 1962, was elected Governor. Unable to succeed himself under the law of the time, he ran for the US Senate in 1968; he won, and held the seat until 1980, becoming the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee at his retirement. After taking a second turn as Governor from 1987 to 1991, during which he chaired the Southern States Energy Board, he returned to his agricultural interests. He ran his family farm, and taught at various state colleges, including Oklahoma State and the University of Oklahoma. Bellmon died after having Parkinson's Disease for a number of years.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
[1]
- Two funerals set for bellmon
Oklahoma City – Two funeral services will be held Saturday for former Gov. Henry Bellmon, who died Tuesday after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 88.
Bellmon will lie in state at the capitol from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.
Family member and former staff members will be on hand to greet visitors.
Services are set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Edmond and at 3 p.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Perry.
Bellmon will be buried at the Union Cemetery in his hometown of Billings.
Services are under the direction of Dugger Funeral Home in Billings.
Credited with making the republican Party into a force in state politics, Bellmon served nonconsecutive terms as governor, begin in 1963 and 1987, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and 1974.
World Capitol Bureau.
Tulsa World, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thursday, 1 October 2009, page 12.
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- Henry Bellmon: 1921-2009
State mourns GOP giant.
[Long article about Henry Bellmon’s political career.
[the article continued on page 8 and includes a concluding section about his personal life]
One of 13 children: Bellmon was born Sept. 3, 1921, at Tonkawa to George and Edith Caskey Bellmon. George Bellmon was a widower with nine children when he married Edith Bellmon, a teacher 11 years his junior. Henry Louis Bellmon was the oldest of their four sons.
He graduated from Billings High School in 1938, a year ahead of his class, and earned an agriculture degree from Oklahoma A&M College – now Oklahoma State University – in seven semesters. He enlisted in the marine Corps in early 1942.
Discharged in 1946, Bellmon was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives that same years but served only one term.
He married Shirley Osborn in 1947, and together they had three daughters. Shirley Bellmon died in 2001, and the following years Henry Bellmon married an old family friend, Eloise Bollenbach.
Besides his wife, Bellmon is survived by his daughters, Pat Hoerth and Ann McFerron of Billings and Gail Wynne of Enid; and four grandchildren.
Tulsa World, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Wednesday, 30 September 2009, page 8
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1921 - 2009 (88 years)
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