Mary K. Shell - Three Marriages

Three Marriages

In 1945, at the age of eighteen, she married Don Sticker, but the couple divorced in 1948. She then married Richard "Dick" Hosking, by whom she had three children: Geoffrey Richard Hosking (born 1951), Timothy William Hosking (1952–1979), and Meredith Katherine Hosking (1959–1981). The couple lived briefly in the San Jose area, where Hosking attended law school, and she worked at the San Jose Airport. They soon returned to Bakersfield, and she became a secretary to a cotton cooperative. Dick served on the Bakersfield City Council from 1965-1969. Mary and Dick separated in 1967 and divorced two years later. The next year, she wed Joe Shell, a distinguished flight instructor during World War II who, like her, held a pilot's license. In 1947, Mary K. first met Joe Shell, who was then married to the former Barbara Morton. He flew his plane to Bakersfield where he had interests in his oil business, landing at La Cresta Airfield, where Mary worked. When Joe ran for California Governor in 1962, she helped in his campaign in Kern County. Mary was later a reporter-photographer and then, the editor, of the News Bulletin, a semi-weekly newspaper serving metropolitan Bakersfield.