Elizabeth Lehman Belen descended from German and Prussian immigrants was a ball of fire during her multi-faceted career as the second woman elected to the Michigan House of Representatives (1936), a public health nurse and a businesswoman.

She began her political career in 1932 when she founded and was the state chairman of the Eleanor Roosevelt League of Women. A lifelong democrat, Belen was a charter member and president of the National Order of Women Legislators. She also was named vice chairperson of the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee. She became a successful businesswoman in the 1930s with the founding of Belen’s Flowers which during its 70-year run operated out of three Lansing locations.

As a nurse she founded the Michigan Visiting Nurses Association and was drafted by the Army during the Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918 and was detailed to Michigan Agricultural College. Later she was the head surgical nurse at St. Lawrence Hospital. She was named to the Michigan women’s Hall of fame.