A Caring Community with Patriotic Pride
By Rachel Strickland
Growing up as a military child, Jean Shine lived all over the world. She was born in Germany and lived in France and on America’s East Coast. But for Shine, Texas is by far the best of all the places that she’s lived, and ultimately, that comes down to the kind and caring community and the patriotic pride that is so widespread in Central Texas.
Shine first fell in love with Central Texas when she was in grade school and her father was stationed at Fort Hood. She and her family moved away, but she came back in 1970 when her husband was in Vietnam, and they haven’t left since. Several generations of her husband’s family are native Texans; in fact, his family came to the area in covered wagons before the 1850s. Shine says her husband’s grandmother came to the area when she was a little girl, sleeping underneath her family’s wagon with her mother to stay safe from coyotes. Shine says every generation of her husband’s family has helped the community grow and develop.
Shine is a prominent name in Central Texas, and for good reason. She has been a successful Realtor with Coldwell Banker for over 40 years, and she is the team leader of Shine Team Realty, which she helped create in the early 1990s. But Shine’s dedication to Central Texas area goes so much deeper. She served on the school board for nine years and as Civilian Aid to the Secretary of the Army for 13 years. “It has been an amazing opportunity for me to be able to spread the love of our country and our soldiers.”
Shine started a foundation to support and recognize high school graduates who have joined the military. She says that because of this foundation, these students are recognized by state representatives, and they graduate with patriotic cords. She also started a foundation to support the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, at which a volunteer group of dedicated residents gather every year after Thanksgiving to lay wreaths on each grave.
Shine loves Central Texas because of how welcoming, kind and patriotic the people are. Laughing, she remarks that often she refers to the area as Little New York because of how multicultural and diverse it is. “We live in the middle of the golden triangle. We are the heart of Texas, and the people here love to share and give and help each other. It’s truly an amazing area.” Shine mainly attributes the melting pot that is Central Texas to Fort Hood. “The military has the world to share with us,” she says.
At first glance, Central Texas may not seem to have the same allure that big cities do, but Shine says there are so many hidden gems tucked away, just waiting to be discovered. She believes the military brings so much diversified talent and knowledge to the area, which ultimately benefits everyone. “That’s what I love sharing with people because it opens their eyes,” she says. “I love sharing the kindness and the goodness of the community with others and making them feel a part of it. There’s a heart here that you don’t find other places.”
Over the years, Shine has been to hundreds of events to welcome soldiers returning home from deployment. She says that she and many other Central Texans feel that it is their job to be there for the soldiers whose relatives can’t be. “It’s our job to love them, to take care of them, and to be inclusive with them,” she says.
Shine and her husband would sometimes go the back way to these events because they knew that was the way that soldiers who had no one to welcome them home would go. “I wanted to make them realize, in that moment, that I was there for their family, and I was there for their friends because they couldn’t be,” she says. “We’re different here. Other people say that they love the military, but here, we show it.”
For Shine, being a Central Texan comes down to having a big heart. “Central Texans share and give and want to be inclusive of other people. They are patriotic, their love their country, their state, their community, and they love helping others.” Smiling, she adds,“I think that embodies the Central Texas spirit.”