Shell had a brother, John Russell, and a sister.

Shell served in the United States Army during World War II, from 1943 to November 1945.

He was captured and held as a Prisoner of War by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge.

[7] He received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Arkansas State University in 1946, and thereafter briefly attended the University of Texas Law School.

[8] Shell died on June 25, 1978, after suffering a heart attack at his residence in Little Rock, Arkansas, leading to cardiac arrest after he arrived at the hospital.