Mary Louise Shell

She was born on December 2,1923 to the late Carey DeWitt Hillman and Venus Franklin Hillman at home, in a charming white cottage shaded by an ancient oak on Boyd Street in Erwin, Tennessee.

Mary Louise cherished her childhood years growing up in her East Tennessee mountain hometown. Along with those happy recollections, she loved to recount her idyllic early life experiences on the family farm in Rye Cove, Virginia.

In 1958, following her husband’s acceptance of a new job at WLAC TV, Mary Louise moved to Nashville with her two sons in tow and another on the way. Having left her first school-teaching job in Kingsport, Tennessee, she continued her teaching career in Nashville at the newly established Ensworth School. After twenty wonderful years teaching at Ensworth, she taught eighth grade English at Montgomery Bell Academy for close to another 20 years. She adored her role there, teaching and developing the character of young men, same as she had done for her three sons.

Subsequent to her retirement from teaching school, Mary Louise continued her career first working for an independent bookseller, and then working for an additional twenty years at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens. She was often the first smiling face visitors saw in the Cheek mansion and she was always thrilled to share with them the history of the Nashville landmark and its original owners. She retired there at age ninety.

Well into her nineties, and with great proficiency, Mary Louise could be seen mowing her three-quarter acre lawn with an electric push mower, cultivating vegetable garden plots in her yard and raking up an overabundance of leaves each fall.

Mary Louise was passionate about growing things naturally, “stalking the wild asparagus”, re-finishing antique family furniture, restoring and sailing an adorable wooden sailboat, and studying literature including classical mythology. She revered the “land”, especially that of the rural Appalachian Mountains in East Tennessee and Virginia. She had a big heart for the family farmers of her upbringing. Mary Louise participated in the preservation of many pristine acres on Florida’s Gulf Coast in and around her beloved piece of Four Mile Village Nature Preserve. And, as a child of the Great Depression, she was thrifty beyond measure.

In addition to her parents, Mary Louise is preceded in death by her husband, William A. Shell, Sr.

Mary Louise is survived by her three sons, Dr. William A. Shell, Jr. (Cathy) of Nashville, Tennessee, Dr. Peter M. Shell (Carole) of Bryson City, North Carolina, and Thomas H. Shell (Libby) of Franklin, Tennessee; seven grandchildren, William A. Shell III (Callie), Robert Hillman Shell (Dr. Hayley), Dr. John Clark Shell, Dr. Mary Allison Shell, Anna Lauren Shell, Anna Laura Shell Emerson (Shane) and Elizabeth Hillman Shell Caldwell (Fletcher); eight great grandchildren, Evie Shell, Carlisle Shell, Emma Shell, Miller Emerson, Ellie Emerson, Rosie Caldwell, Willie Caldwell and Hugh Shell.

A private family service for Mary Louise will occur at a later date in the courtyard of West End United Methodist Church, her place of interment.

Memorial donations may be made to any of the above-mentioned institutions and also to Abe’s Garden and Alive Hospice.