The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

BELLMON, SHIRLEY LEE OSBORN (1927–2000).

Shirley Lee Osborn Bellmon, entrepreneur and business owner, served as Oklahoma’s sixteenth first lady from January 14, 1963, to January 9, 1967. Her husband, Henry Bellmon, was Oklahoma’s eighteenth governor, and Shirley Bellmon became the sixteenth, because two previous governors were unmarried while in office. She also served as the twenty-second first lady from January 12, 1987, to January 14, 1991. Osborn was born on August 10, 1927, in Billings, Oklahoma to James Ray, a farmer, and Laurine Ponton Osborn.

Shirley Osborn was a lifelong learner. She graduated from Billings High School in 1945 and continued her education for one year at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University). Later in life she enrolled in a dress-design course at the University of Central Oklahoma. She met Henry Louis Bellmon while attending the Methodist Church in Billings. Following his tour in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, they married on January 24, 1947. They had three daughters, Patricia, Gail, and Ann.

Shirley Bellmon also participated in politics. In 1954 she served as committee member from Noble County to the Republican State Committee. In 1962, during her husband’s campaign on the Republican ticket for Oklahoma governor, Shirley Bellmon and their three daughters traveled with him around the state. She continued to support him in his campaigns for the U.S. Senate and for a second term as governor. To draw attention to these political contests, she designed red-white-and-blue-striped fabric dresses for the volunteer women campaigners, known as Bellmon Belles. Henry Bellmon commented that the Bellmon Belles were “the most effective element in our campaign.”

Following Bellmon’s election on November 6, 1962, Shirley Bellmon met with First Lady Jeannette Edmondson and toured the Governor’s Mansion. Bellmon declared it to be in “‘excellent condition’” and established weekly public tours. After Henry Bellmon’s first term as governor, he was elected to the U.S Senate. The Bellmon family lived in Washington, D.C., from 1969 to 1981, where Shirley Bellmon joined the U.S. Senate Wives’ Club and also enrolled in a stained-glass course. She created several stained-glass windows that were incorporated into their home in Billings. With this knowledge, she cleaned and restored stained-glass windows from rehabilitated houses in Washington, D.C.

The Bellmons returned to Oklahoma, where Henry served a second term as governor from 1987 to 1991. Shirley Bellmon reestablished the weekly tours of the Governor’s Mansion, including the kitchen. She also located and returned lead-glass doors to the shelves in the library. While serving as First Lady, she initiated and helped with the restoration of a large stained-glass window from the First Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City.

In addition to supporting her husband’s political and ranching careers, Shirley Bellmon promoted Oklahoma artisans and beautification projects and organized her own businesses. In 1967 she designed and sewed a line of clothing under her own label, “Shir-Lee.” Its products incorporated Oklahoma state symbols such as mistletoe and the scissor-tailed flycatcher. She owned and operated the First Lady Doll Factory and the First Lady Café in Billings. In 1987 Shirley Bellmon founded the Oklahoma Alliance of Home-Based Businesses. She served as president of the Oklahoma Alliance for Artisans and advocated for the Oklahoma Alliance Against Drug Abuse and the Oklahoma Main Street Project. She was honored with numerous awards, including the Oklahoma Historical Society’s George Shirk Award for Historic Preservation in 1990 and the Pioneer Woman Award in 1992. She was inducted posthumously into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame in 2001. In that year the Henry and Shirley Bellmon Museum and Library opened in Billings.

Following Henry Bellmon’s stint in politics in 1991, the Bellmon family returned to their wheat and cattle ranch in Billings. Shirley Bellmon helped promote Billings economy by operating her doll factory and café, attracting locals and visitors. While vacationing, Shirley Lee Osborn Bellmon died of a heart attack at Falmouth, Massachusetts, on July 24, 2000. She was buried in Billings Union Cemetery in Billings, Oklahoma.

Linda D. Wilson