Inger-Lise

Shell

Inger-Lise Shell of Fallbrook, California went home to be with the Lord on November 6, 2026 after a long struggle with paraplegia and Parkinson’s disease. She was 87 years old.

She was born Inger-Lise Pettersson in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1939. The following year, Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Denmark. Inger-Lise lived through the occupation as a little girl. She remembered hearing the sounds of bombs falling and detonating. All the apartment building residents had to keep their blinds or curtains shut on the windows after dark so that the Germans couldn’t target their building.

Inger-Lise had an older brother named Svend. The family was poor during the occupation. Inger-Lise only had three toys: two dolls and a teddy bear.

One time during the winter, Svend fell through the ice on a pond. Inger-Lise was there with him. She stretched out the handle of a shovel to him. He grabbed it and she pulled him to safety. She saved his life, and Svend was always grateful for that.

Svend and Inger-Lise both graduated from a high school in Copenhagen called Efterslægtsskabets Skole. Inger-Lise eventually found employment in Austria with a company called Radiometer. Next, out of a desire for adventure she decided to immigrate to the United States. She arrived in Los Angeles in 1963. She worked for a time as a dental assistant in the Los Angeles area. Then she met Howard Wayne Shell, and soon they got married. It was 1964. First they lived in Inglewood, where their first child John came along. Then in 1968 they moved to Woodland Hills, where sons Glenn and Lyle came along.

While helping to raise the three boys, Inger-Lise worked several part-time jobs in succession. First she worked as a bank teller for Hawthorne Savings. Next she worked for a company called Grundy assembling beer taps. Her last job was as a proofreader for Deluxe check printing company.

Inger-Lise took many trips back to Denmark over the years to visit family and sightsee. She took Wayne, John, Glenn, and/or Lyle with her on the trips.

The Northridge earthquake in 1994 damaged their house in Woodland Hills. Wayne and Inger-Lise had the house demolished and had a new one built in its place. Then they sold that home and bought their retirement dream home up in the hills of Fallbrook, California in 2002. They had about six wonderful years there until Wayne got sick and went home to be with the Lord in 2008. Inger-Lise continued to live in the house in Fallbrook. She frequently attended Fallbrook United Methodist Church, and with friends there she helped knit prayer shawls for the elderly. During the summers she took trips to Maryland to visit Glenn and his family. Once she went with Lyle to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. Then in 2018, she lost the ability to walk. She moved to Regency Fallbrook, an assisted living facility. She was mostly bedbound, but she was lifted into a wheelchair twice a day, and she was able to continue managing her affairs and be the best mother and grandmother she could be under the circumstances. Finally, in late 2026 her Parkinson’s got worse, to the point where she could hardly do anything anymore.

Inger-Lise was very beautiful and sweet. She was also very special. I mean, how many people do you know who are permanent residents of the U.S. but were born in Denmark and speak Danish? She leaves a wonderful legacy of Danish culture behind. She is survived by her three sons, John, Glenn (Heidi), and Lyle; and three grandchildren, Christian, Jesse, and Kenzie.

For Inger-Lise there will be a viewing from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24, 2026, at Berry-Bell & Hall Mortuary, 333 N Vine Street, Fallbrook, CA 92028. This will be followed by a memorial service in the mortuary chapel at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 25. She will be laid to rest alongside her husband in Effingham Cemetery in Effingham, Kansas. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Inger-Lise’s favorite charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital .