Fillmore loses a familiar face

Bill Shields: a steady presence in the neighborhood

Longtime Fillmore resident and noted artist Bill Shields died Wednesday, April 14, just a week shy of his 85th birthday.

Shields and his wife Denise in recent years have owned and operated the Artists Inn at 2231 Pine Street. The inn is housed in his former studio, which faces a sunny patio behind their home.

Until the beginning of this year, even in declining health and finally on a walker, Shields was a regular presence on Fillmore Street. He fell early in the new year and had been in a rehabilitation facility since then. A memorial mass will be held May 5 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Dominic’s Church, where Shields attended mass every morning for many years.

Obituary
Eulogy: ‘Kind, devoted, sentimental’
Nov. 2009: The artistic inkeepers
April 1989: The constantly creative Bill Shields