| footnotes='''Notes''':<br>
(1) At the time of her retirement as a Kern County supervisor, Shell was called "the most popular [[politician]] in Kern County history" by ''The Bakersfield Californian'' [[newspaper]], for which she had once worked.<br>
(2) Shell is thus far the only woman to have served as [[mayor]] of Bakersfield.<br>
(3) Mary Shell, then Mary Hosking, first caught the attention of [[Joe Shell]] when she organized [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] Kern County into a largely [[Republican Party|Republican]] stronghold. She went on to co-manage Shell's 1962 [[Governor|gubernatorial]] campaign in Kern County when Shell faced [[Richard M. Nixon]] in the [[primary]].<br>
(4) Like her third husband, Joe Shell, Mary held a pilot's license and had great interest in aviation.<br>
(5) Mary Shell once challenged [[NBC]]'s ''The Tonight Show'' host [[Johnny Carson]] for his dismissive line about "beautiful downtown Bakersfield"."
}}
While in office, she personally hosted many social gatherings and joined constituents in cleaning up litter-strewn lots. Out of office, she did consulting work for individuals and companies having problems with government [[bureaucracy]].<ref name=kern/>
==Most memorable achievement==
When asked her most memorable accomplishment in office, Shell replied that it was the diversion of grant funds to establish a lighted [[soccer]] field in an underserved area of the city and the coordination undertaken for an American Youth Soccer Organization program. Shell recalls having stopped at [[McDonald’s]] [[restaurant]] one day. A young woman followed her out to say, "Thank you so much – my brother was headed for trouble. Having the soccer field in our neighborhood made a difference. He joined AYSO and changed his life."<ref name=women />
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