Paul Yashiro Shinoda Jr.

Paul Yashiro Shinoda Jr., 83, passed away peacefully at home on July 20, 2021. He leaves behind his daughter, Kimi Anne (Shinoda) Ingalls, her husband Brad, and grandchildren Allyse (John), Maxwell, Quinlan, and Grant; sisters Carol Tateishi (John) and Irene Thornton (Robert), brother Mike (Charlene), sister-in-law Norma (brother David predeceased 2004), brother-in-law Wade Nomura (sister Roxanne predeceased 2017); beloved companion Anna Ricketts; and many nieces, nephews, and other loved ones who were part of his “chosen family.”

Paul was born on December 11, 1937 to Paul (Sr.) and Alice Shinoda who preceded him in death in 2009 and 2010, respectively. He was a graduate of Torrance High School in 1955 and the University of California, Berkeley in 1959 with a degree in Plant Pathology. He also joined the ROTC at Cal and in 1959 was enlisted into the U.S. Army Artillery division where he was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to Captain between active duty and his retirement from the Army reserves in 1966.

Paul joined his family’s horticulture business, San Lorenzo Nursery, in the early ‘60s working alongside his father in Torrance, CA. It was during this time when he met and married Barbara Shintaku. Shortly after their daughter, Kimi Anne, was born in 1963, they moved to Goleta to complete construction and manage the new location of San Lorenzo Nursery.

In 1970, Paul & Barbara made the decision to begin their own adventure in the wholesale horticultural industry and purchased Mollgaard Floral in Snohomish, WA from Henry and Molly Mollgaard. Shinoda Floral expanded a few years later with the purchase of Averill Floral from Al & Vera Averill and finally, the Clearview operation that was built on farmland purchased from Martin & Margaret Zanon. The business was consolidated to the Clearview location in late 1993.

In the early years, Shinoda Floral hosted an annual Christmas Open House and invited the community to come see the hundreds of colorful poinsettias and other holiday crops before they were shipped to retail customers. Over 100 dozen delicious cookies were ordered each year from the Snohomish Bakery for this event as Paul & Barbara were strong advocates for supporting local community businesses.

Shinoda Floral’s crops varied over the years, but the nursery was best known for African violets, a breeding program that was inherited from Henry Mollgaard. At its peak Shinoda Floral was the second largest producer of African violets in the U.S. — the largest west of the Mississippi.

For over three decades Paul innovated the horticultural industry with new ideas and products — adaptations from things he saw during his travels around the country, internationally, and sometimes out of creative necessity. Shinoda Floral was first to introduce spring color bowls to the Pacific Northwest market by mixing different types of annual flowers in a designed garden. Spring color bowls were an outdoor adaptation from the numerous indoor dishgardens and terrariums that the company designed and sold to local retail florists. This category evolved into the area’s first European-styled basketgarden department where kalanchoes, mums, foliage plants, and African violets were left in their pots and carefully integrated into a grapevine basket and finished with a top dressing of sphagnum moss. Shortly thereafter, outdoor basketgardens were also produced and sold. Bruning Pottery (then located in Seattle, now in Snohomish), Washington Pottery in Kent, and Wald Baskets in Kirkland were all local, family-owned supply partners for this category of the business. In the early ‘90s Paul and his daughter ventured into developing miniature poinsettias in 2” and 3” pots. While others were also growing this size, Shinoda Floral’s goal was to offer plants that looked like true miniatures of the larger poinsettias that shoppers purchased each year. They worked with suppliers to create self-watering containers for the 2” and custom pot covers for the 3”. Plus, these cute plants were versatile – inspiring consumers to purchase multiples to provide small accent decorations in various places around the home, office, and even on restaurant tables. Paul loved filling his jeep to efficiently deliver several hundred 2” self-watering poinsettias per load including his annual delivery to the Maltby Café, just down the road. For nearly a decade the company sold many thousands of these holiday plants and many others until the business was retired and the property sold in late 2003.

Paul was also called to serve the community and state. He was elected to the Snohomish City Council in 1971 where he served for 12 years. He also became the first Japanese-American member of the Washington State House of Representatives in 1976. As quoted from his campaign literature, Paul believed, “Government exists to serve the people, not control their lives…to assist them, not undermine their initiative…to deliver needed services, not burden them with excessive taxation and nonproductive but expensive rules and regulations.” In addition to his elected positions, Paul also served on both the Providence (Everett) Hospital and Association of Washington Business (AWB) Boards of Directors, the Puget Sound Council of Government, and was an active member of the Washington State Farm Bureau. During his years with AWB he supported and participated in AWB Business Week, a summer entrepreneurial educational camp for high school students, hosted at Central Washington University.

Paul also strove to help support and improve the horticultural industry locally with the Flower Growers of Puget Sound. Nationally he was elected and served as president of the Society of American Florists, where he also represented Washington State as an annual delegate for Congressional Action Days. Internationally, Paul was honored to be an invited judge at the prestigious Ghent (Belgium) Floralies three times in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Paul truly was a lifelong learner, adventurer, and trailblazer.

In his youth he was very active in Boy Scouts and traveled by train across the country with his brother David to the second National Boy Scout Jamboree at Valley Forge, PA in 1950.

He enjoyed watching and participating in many sports and activities: youth baseball, high school track & field, Cal crew (coxswain), fishing, and hunting. He dove into each new experience with his full passion as noted by his efforts to breed and train Brittany Spaniels for show and field trials (hunting). Always the entrepreneur with a thirst for learning, he opened Paul’s Pet Supplies and sold high quality leather collars, harnesses, leads, and dog food to support his field trial and show expenses and studied to become a field trial judge. In 2005 he was team captain of the Columbia Atheltic Club’s 3.0 Men’s team that won the PNW Sectional Championship and took a brief but fun tip to Flushing Meadows – home of the US Open. Amongst the other many items on his “bucket list” he was particularly thrilled to attend and experience both the Indy 500 and the Kentucky Derby.

Paul and his family enjoyed summer travels all over the United States, with many trips centered around greenhouse tours. He was blessed to have friends and associates in the horticulture industry around the country and the world. In 1984, Paul had his own odyssey when he became one of 78 travelers to successfully complete a United Airlines promotional challenge to travel to all 50 states in 50 days with their airline. Traveling with only a small, carry-on sized duffle bag, his 17-day adventure earned Paul a United Golden Pass that awarded him free, unlimited first-class airfare for one year to anywhere in the United States including Alaska and Hawaii. United projected that this endeavor would cost a traveler around $16,000, but Paul, being thrifty and a problem solver, spent only $6,000.

Paul also loved to share delicious food and wine. During his travels he sought to find the best foods each town or city had to offer. From the best barbeque at Sonny Bryan’s in Texas to Martin’s IGA “World Famous Hams” in Montana, you could always count on Paul to sleuth out the best meal wherever he traveled.

He was a collector of Napa Valley Cabernet, Bordeaux, and Tawny Port, and enjoyed cooking for his loved ones. Both Paul’s cioppino and his roasted goose with cherry-cabernet sauce were family favorites during the holidays. Partnering with Buzz Rodland (Rodland Toyota) Paul started making homemade wine in his pool house in the late 1970s. They produced fun labels such as “Paul Buzzon,” a play on his and Buzz’s names; “A Wine You Can Trust,” which featured a picture of Richard Nixon; and an orange wine called “Bronco Blush,” a gift for friends in Colorado that was “ahead of its time.” In 1994, he founded Saintpaulia Vintners, a boutique commercial winery, on the Shinoda Floral property. Saintpaulia (the botanical name for African violets) was one of the first 100 bonded wineries in Washington State. Paul enjoyed producing small runs of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc every harvest, and even more so, he appreciated the collaborative effort of blending and bottling his wines with the help of his family and friends. In recent years he was thrilled to partner with his granddaughter Allyse, who has since taken the reigns from her “Gramps.”

Although his retirement was slowed by Parkinson’s disease, Paul refused to let it get the best of him and continued to be a pioneer. He spearheaded, participated in, and promoted an experimental and highly successful “Pedaling for Parkinson’s” exercise program with the YMCA of Snohomish County.

Their Mill Creek-based pedaling group was featured nationally on the NBC Nightly News. He continued to enjoy the Seattle Symphony, attend Mariners games, fly fish Kelly Creek every fall, and attend as many of his grandchildren’s sporting and musical events as possible.

During an early 2016, cross-country fishing adventure to the Florida Keys with his beloved companion, Anna, an unfortunate bout with Guillain-Barré Syndrome landed him in a hospital in Gulfport, MS for over two months and was a huge blow to his active lifestyle. Despite it all he continued to live life to its fullest with extra help and encouragement from Anna, his family, and his friends. To the end he lived life on his terms.

There are so very many people that Paul would have wanted to acknowledge and thank for helping him have such a full and wonderful life. Paul LOVED flowers, and he loved sharing flowers with the world. In that light he directed his family to write a last request that will make those who knew Paul smile and perhaps giggle: “In lieu of contributions, please send flowers.” In addition to his floral request, donations in Paul’s memory are suggested to Seed Your Future.org, Snohomish County Hospice, or the Snohomish Senior Center.

Link to the recording of Paul’s, September 11, 2021 memorial service:

https://youtu.be/Tbd7mDvoFcQ