Mary Elizabeth Shine

Mary Elizabeth Shine (Schubert) was born in Glendale, California on October 18, 1931, to her parents William Schubert and Martha Gladys Smith. Mary grew up in China, with her sister Lois, as a child of Methodist missionaries. The family lived in Jiangxi Province until Mary was eleven, when her mother passed away. Her father remarried Katherine Schubert and they had another child named Esther. Mary and her sister attended Shanghai American School for junior high and high school where she graduated in 1949. After Chinese Liberation, she returned to the United States with her stepmother Katherine and sister Esther.

Mary began school at Cascade College and received a Bachelor's Degree in Education. She then went on to Western Oregon State to obtain her Master's in Education and her teaching certificate. She began her career as a grade school teacher in Butte Falls. One of her former students, Reverend Joseph Fuiten, of Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington, recalls stories of Mary fondly in his sermons, including the three well-deserved spanking he received in the first grade. Mary proceeded to teach in Coos Bay and Bandon before moving to Hillsboro, Oregon where she taught first grade at Peter Boscow Elementary for the next 27 years. She especially enjoyed working with children who had dyslexia and various learning disabilities. In the 1950s, Mary was involved with Billy Graham Revival Ministries.

In 1967, Mary and Paul were married at the Assembly of God Church in Aloha, Oregon after being introduced by a fellow teacher and her future sister-in-law, Jean Shine, while teaching 2nd and 3rd grade in Bandon. Together they had two daughters. Laura was born on November 15, 1969 and Linda was born on June 28, 1972. Mary retired in November of 1986, after over 33 years of teaching. Mary supported Laura and Linda for years of dance at Helen Wick Walters Dance Studio. She enjoyed baking for her family and sewing dance costumes for many dance recitals. Laura, and her husband Jason reside in North Plains, Oregon with her family (two daughters and stepson) and works at Intel. Linda, her husband Ron, and eleven of their children serve as missionaries in Haiti. The other three adult children work and attend college in Oregon. Mary's extended family lives in California and Indiana. She was especially close to her niece, Dr. Amelia Pryor, from San Francisco, California and enjoyed writing her letters when she was a child. She has since enjoyed writing letters to Amelia's daughter Emily who was also born in Mary's homeland, China. "Aunt Mary" enjoyed telling stories of fun times with her other nieces and nephews Marvin, Allen, Kate, and Natalie.

Mary always considered China to be her home and loved to return for visits. She loved to talk about her experiences in China to anyone who would listen. On one of her return visits, she was able to take her granddaughter Maliya Sheppard with her, who was also born in Jiangxi Providence. She also traveled to China with her daughter Linda, her granddaughter Phuong, as well as her grandsons Joseph and David. Her grandson David became fluent in Mandarin Chinese and teaches English in China through the positive influence of grandma.

The Shanghai American School had yearly reunions, which Mary loved to attend when possible, in the United States and abroad. Mary loved to travel with her family. Paul and Mary enjoyed traveling by Amtrak train across the United States and at one point hit a bear in Montana. This delayed their trip by quite a few days. Paul and Mary talked about the beautiful sights they were able to see visiting Montana on that delayed trip. Mary also traveled with her daughter Linda and her family around the United States in their RV. Paul and Mary enjoyed going to garage sales and collecting new treasures, such as antique toasters and elephant figurines.

In 1999, Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. She battled breast cancer for the next fifteen years. Mary came back to the Lord after her husband Paul passed away ten years ago. Her grandchildren called her Grandma "Mei Mei" which means "little sister" in Chinese. For the last eight years, her oldest grandson Joseph has been her primary caregiver, along with help from her granddaughter Phuong, and longtime family friend Brenda Palaske. Brenda drove Mary to the Hillsboro and North Plains Senior Center twice a week. Mary's favorite song was "Amazing Grace" and she would recite the song each night to her grandson Joseph. Mary passed away of natural causes in her home on March 4, 2015.

Her husband Paul W. Shine, who passed away on November 7, 2004, precedes Mary in death.
She is survived by her sister Lois Pryor (of Alameda, California); half-sister Dr. Esther Schubert Chambers and her spouse David Chambers (of New Castle, Indiana); her daughter Laura I. Bryant and son-in-law Jason Bryant and grandchildren Tiffini, Kylee, and Chris Bryant (of North Plains, Oregon); daughter Linda R. Sheppard and son-in-law Ron Sheppard, and grandchildren Joseph, Kenneth, Maliya (of Hillsboro, Oregon), David, Phuong, Julia, Christelle, Talitha, Billy, Roseminique, Melissa, Jordan, Steevenson and Naomi Sheppard (of Port au Prince, Haiti). She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

Services will be held on Saturday, March 14th at 10 o'clock in the morning at the North Plains Senior Center. In lieu of flowers, donations in honor Mary to support the promotion of medical and educational services in China, Guatemala, and Haiti can be made at: www.thechancetodream.com