Laura Noll la Shelle

Laura Noll La Shelle died peacefully at home on October 26th in the company of her children. She was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana to Rosemary and William Noll in 1939. Her father died young in 1945, so her mother decided to move to Los Angeles with Laura and her sister Rose, shortly thereafter, to start a new chapter in their lives.

Living in California was a grand adventure and Laurie, as she was widely known, first lived in the Palisades. She graduated from the Marlborough School in 1957 and then from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961. She made many lifelong friends at Cal, as a Pi Phi, as well as meeting her first husband, Brett La Shelle. They were married in Los Angeles, at her Mother’s house in Brentwood in July of 1961. They lived in Michigan in the early 60’s and Laurie earned a master’s in History from the University of Michigan.

Laurie had a lot of energy and charisma, and while she was a stay at home mom, she found many outlets for her interest in helping people, including working with the Assistance League/Nine O’Clock Players live theatre as a performer and organizer. She had many favorite charities and organizations that she supported and volunteered for including the Marlborough School, where she was a board member for ten years.

After Laurie’s divorce in 1981, she went to work as a personal banker at Wells Fargo, at their Doheny branch. She needed more of a challenge, and after a few years changed careers and became one of the first female stockbrokers at Smith Barney downtown. It was a fulfilling 20 some years of helping people manage their money that created many new relationships for her.

For that was really what she lived for, building strong lifelong relationships with the people she loved and cared for. Laurie kept in touch and had a knack for connecting to people. She was well matched in that respect with her second husband, Bob Kerslake, who was a native Angeleno, and a supporter of many Catholic charities, who pre deceased her in 2021.

Laurie spent a lot of time and energy over the years working with the Paulist Fathers, Paulist Productions and her great friend, Father Ellwood “Bud” Kieser. She was a longstanding parishioner of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, and a member of the choir.

Laurie loved traveling and discovering new places, especially in the company of great friends and her family. Her 80th and 85th birthday celebrations with the family in Alaska and Hawaii will long be cherished and remembered. At home she loved tending her garden and especially her rose garden. She was a life long reader and history buff. She was a founding member of a West LA book club in 1969, with a number of friends, that provided a lifetime of camaraderie and travel that is still active today.

She was devoted to her family and was a busy, sometimes strict, grandmother, known as “Tottie”, who worked hard to know and be involved with her six grandchildren who survive her; Alissa and Ben La Rocca, Alexandra, Kirke and Luke La Shelle and Kelly Marshall. She was pre deceased by another granddaughter, Victoria La Rocca. Laurie will be greatly missed by her three children, Scott, Christopher and Ashley La Shelle.