April 14, 1935 – December 17, 2024
KILL DEVIL HILLS — Our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt Luise Friedhilde Zeller, née Hertel, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on December 17, 2024, at the age of 89. She was preceded in death by her husband Armin Josef Zeller and her sister Karin Hertel. Born on April 14, 1935, in Kaiserslautern, Germany, she was the oldest of three children by the late Ernst and Lina Hertel.
After graduating from secondary school, Luise completed a Master’s Degree in pharmacy at the Ludwig Maximilian Universität in Munich. Her passion for helping others and for serving the community stayed with her throughout her life.
Luise was a wonderful, loving mother and grandmother and she was deeply committed to and supportive of her family and her friends. Her life’s journey brought her to the United States with her husband Armin and her two young daughters, where they settled in New Jersey and Luise worked at home as a devoted homemaker. After subsequently joining Armin in Sicily, Italy, and later in Virginia, she also lived in West Virginia and North Carolina after his passing.
A devout Christian, Luise loved Jesus all her life and took great joy in volunteering for churches and in many different capacities where she was needed. Her empathy, her generosity, her unwavering faith and her kindness touched many souls.
Luise further loved traveling, walking, spending time in nature, listening to classical music, and reading literature. During her last years, she especially enjoyed the rural surroundings in the idyllic town of Lewisburg, WV, where she also found a vibrant community in her church and among dear friends.
She was a delightful pet grandma to “Puppy” Zeller and welcomed all other family pets into her home, including our cats Robbie, Mozart, and Romeo, and our dogs Fleck, Puppy, Lucy, Peaches, and Sherbie.
Luise is survived by her two daughters Marillis Zeller Shelton and Ingrid Zeller, her son-in-law Trey Shelton, her grandchildren Alex, Sima, Katya, and Lauren Shelton, her great-grandson Azari Maitland-Niles, her brother Karl Hertel, her sister-in-law Elisabeth Hertel, and her niece Eva Hertel and nephew Georg Hertel.
A memorial service will be held in her honor in the Greenbrier Memorial Gardens, Lewisburg, WV, on April 13, 2025, at 3 pm.
Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories may be shared at www.TwifordFH.com.
