Harriet Belchic

Harriet Cameron Belchic (August 17, 1928 – February 12, 1999) was a Republican political activist from Shreveport, Louisiana, who was also the first woman ever granted both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in geology from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She served on the Shreveport Women's Commission and the Louisiana Federation of Republican Women.

Biography

Early life and education

Belchice was born in Tiffin in Seneca County in northern Ohio. Her family moved to Winnfield, the seat of Winn Parish in north Louisiana, where she graduated from Winnfield High School.

Career

An advocate of a two-party system, Belchic was vice-chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party from 1962–1968. She held a seat on the party's 144-member State Central Committee for more than twenty years. She was elected as a delegate to numerous Republican national conventions. She was a southern floor leader for then U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California. Belchic was district chairman of Women for Nixon in 1968 and was an alternate delegate for George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988 and the 1992.

She became a member of the Shreveport Women's Republican Club in 1954.

Active in local civic affairs, Belchic was appointed by Democratic Mayor John B. Hussey and Republican Mayor Hazel F. Beard to the Shreveport Women's Commission, having served from 1988 to 1994. Beard also named her to the Riverfront Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

Personal life

Belchic was married to Dr. George Belchic, Jr., a Shreveport orthopedic surgeon, and had a son and three daughters.

Death and afterward

Belchic died at her home in Shreveport on February 12, 1999 after a long illness. Services were held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on February 17, 1999. Graveside rites were private. She was survived by her husband, her son, George Cameron Belchic (January 24, 1960 - January 31, 2007) and wife Angelia Steele Belchic of Decatur, Alabama; three daughters, Katherine Mitchell Belchic (January 13, 1953 - October 9, 2007) of Shreveport and her then husband, Michael Rolland, both then of New Orleans, Ellen Belchic Hutchison (born 1955) and then husband Bruce R. Hutchison (born 1957), of New Orleans, and Martha Cameron Belchic-Loeb (born 1956) of Shreveport; her brother Wheelock Cameron and wife Virginia Cameron of Fort Walton Beach, Florida; her brother-in-law, Albert Mitchell Belchic of New Orleans; a nephew, Gregory Martin Cameron and wife Virginia Cameron of Seaford, Virginia; seven grandchildren, Ellen Virginia Emory, Margarite Rolland, Michelle Rolland, Mary Katherine VanGeffen, Cameron Rolland Bryant, Martha Calvin Rolland, Sarah Vivian Belchic; a great niece, Lindsay Cameron.

Louisiana state Senator Ron Bean described Belchic as the "dean of Republican women in the state of Louisiana, and a fine friend of mine. She worked when nobody else would ... She will be remembered as somebody who provided lots of leadership ... She would want to be remembered as someone who helped even the smallest candidate run for public office, all the way up to someone running for governor."

References

• Harriet Cameron Belchic obituary, Shreveport Times, February 15–16, 1999
• Archived Obituary - George Cameron Belchic DECATUR, AL
• Death Notices and Guest Books for 6/2/2008
• Archived Obituary - Belchic, Katherine Mitchell
• "LSU Scholarships and Fellowships". Retrieved 8 December 2008. 
• Archives - Selected Index of Shreveport Times, 1999
• NEWSMEAT ▷ Martha Belchic's federal campaign contribution search results