Thomas Michael Shine was born in Spokane and graduated from Gonzaga Prep in 1959. He participated in many School activities and was named Best Student Athlete his Senior year. The Curriculum focused on College preparation, and required a minimum of 2 years of Latin, but they offered no courses in Visual Arts.

After High School Tom worked for 5 of the next 6 summers for the U S Forest Service in Idaho’s St. Joe National Forest, and for 2 years attended Columbia Basin College to play basketball.

He developed interests in the Environment, Sustainability, Art and Design. But he received his Military Draft Notice, so he joined the Army Reserve and spent 6 months on active duty. He then enrolled at the U of IDAHO, earning a degree in Architecture.

He was employed by Architecture Firms in Seattle for 2 years, married Molly Means RN, then moved his family to Spokane.

In early 1972 Tom earned his Architecture License, and spent the next 2 years working with the EXPO 74 Site Design Team.

Later he served as:

  • Principal Architect with ECI Architects for 10 years;
  • Principal with INTEGRUS Architecture for 10 years;
  • Sole Practitioner during the last 8 years of his career.

Honors include:

  • One of 2 Gonzaga Prep Alumni of year in 2000, after serving as volunteer Chairman of the Building Committee during the late 1990’s;
  • Department of Defense Design Award in 1989, for one of the 10 best DOD projects worldwide, for an enlisted personnel Housing Concept at Fairchild AFB.

Tom retired from Architecture in 2009 after 42 years of working with many wonderful people.

Tom and his wife Molly have 4 daughters and 10 grandchildren. In 2012 at age 70, he resumed doing pencil sketches and began studies with watercolor paints. These Giclee Prints on display are copies of several of his paintings from the past 10 years.