Former Oklahoma governor says he's getting remarried

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Former Gov. Henry Bellmon is getting hitched. <br><br>Bellmon, known for keeping his affairs private, was reluctant to say anything Wednesday night when peppered with questions

Thursday, April 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Former Gov. Henry Bellmon is getting hitched.

Bellmon, known for keeping his affairs private, was reluctant to say anything Wednesday night when peppered with questions about whether he was engaged.

The 80-year-old Bellmon grinned and finally said, ``We're close.''

Bellmon and Eloise Bollenbach _ a Kingfisher resident and longtime friend of the Bellmon family _ plan to marry, they said.

``We haven't set a date,'' Bellmon said.

The couple attended a dinner Wednesday night for Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming who served with Bellmon in the U.S. Senate.

Bellmon's wife, Shirley, died in July 2000 while the family was on vacation in Cape Cod, Mass.

Bollenbach is a housemother at the Sigma Nu fraternity house at Oklahoma State University, she said. Her grandson and Bellmon's grandson live in the house and got the pair together, Bollenbach said.

Bellmon said he and his wife, Shirley, along with Bollenbach and her late husband, Irvin, worked together in his first campaign for governor in 1962.

In that year, Bellmon became the first Republican to be elected governor since statehood.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and served two six-year terms before choosing not to run again.

In 1986, he ran again for governor and was elected to another four-year term.

Bellmon, who still lives on the family farm east of Billings, has an office at OSU and works on behalf of research projects and economic development projects.

Bellmon has been called ``the father of the modern Republican Party in Oklahoma,'' but had good relations with Democratic legislators, particularly late in his second gubernatorial term.