Dr. Amy Elizabeth Shine of Johnson City, TN, passed away on January 16, 2025, at Johnson City Medical Center at the age of 43 after suffering complications from a brief but serious illness. Amy was a fierce advocate for the arts, her students, and for educational attainment.
She was a beloved educator, having taught theatre, drama, and English at four universities across the West Coast before starting her own educational consulting firm, Shine Brighter Consulting. Amy received a PhD in Drama and Theatre jointly from the University of California, Irvine and the University of California, San Diego. Her expertise was on the emergence and importance of women in western mass media following the English Restoration. Amy believed in the societal importance of theatre not only as entertainment but as a tool for challenging power structures and critiquing the ills of the ruling class. In addition to her role as an educator and researcher, Amy was frequently a working dramaturg and stage manager and appeared as an actor in numerous productions including at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
In addition to her PhD, she held master’s degrees in English and Theatre from La Sierra University and San Diego State University and a Bachelors from Walla Walla University in Washington. Amy was a member of the La Sierra University Church of Seventh-Day Adventists and was possessed of a strong faith in the loving redemption of Jesus Christ.
Amy is survived by her life partner Dr. Richard C. Prince of Johnson City, TN, her mother Christie Shine of Riverside, CA, her father, Val Shine of Hillsboro, OR, her sister Autumn Shine of Newberg, NY. She’s also survived in the hearts and memories of the souls she touched across the globe with her light, love, and passion. She is preceded in death by her younger brother, Alex Shine of Riverside, CA.
Friends and Family will be celebrating her life on Sunday, April 13 at the La Sierra University Church in Riverside, CA.
Condolences may be sent to Amy’s family online at www.dillow-taylor.com
Dillow-Taylor Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Jonesborough, TN 423-753-3821
My heart goes to Amy's family, loved ones, and communities. I met Amy when I first started as a professor at UCSD when she (and Shane) took one of my seminars. Full of life, laughing and caring wholeheartedly, incisive yet tender, Amy was fierce, a generous thinker, fearless, and a truly lovely human being who made me feel like I could do this job...She will continue to shine and the many constellations of people she has impacted will go on as well. Thank you, Amy.
