Page Belcher

Class of
1965
Page Belcher

Page Belcher

“I appreciate the things he did as a statesman, but the other things he did are important, too. He was a good man, a good daddy who really cared about his family, his kids and the other kids.”
Oleta Barnes, 1980

Biography

Born on the claim his father made in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, Page Belcher attended high school at Jefferson and Medford, Oklahoma, and attended college at Friends University in Kansas and the University of Oklahoma. He held college letters in four sports and received an honorary LL.D. from Oklahoma City University. He was honored many times for public and civic leadership as a lawyer and civic worker in Enid, Oklahoma. Launching his congressional career in 1950, he became the ranking Republican on the Home Agricultural Committee, where he protected the interests of Oklahoma’s agricultural industry. He played an important role in the Arkansas River Development project with his influence with the White House during the Eisenhower administration being an important factor to its success. A vocal political conservative, Belcher was credited in 1964 with a perfect voting record by the Americans for Constitutional Action. Upon his retirement in 1972, a 300-acre park in Tulsa was named in his honor. Upon his death at the age of 81, the eulogy at Belcher’s funeral cited the fact that although he could not speak or hear due to the effects of a stroke, he always was there in his “regular place” at Boston Avenue Methodist Church “just to show whose side he was on.”

Fun fact

Although the only Republican in the Oklahoma delegation during 20 of his 22 years in Washington, Page Belcher was credited by Oklahoma colleagues with playing key roles in passing legislation benefiting the state.

Oklahoma connections

Belcher was born in Jefferson, Oklahoma.

Hometown

Tulsa

Profession

U.S. Congressman

Presenter

Born

1899

Died

1980
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