How do you reference a Component from one frame to be used in a different frame without using Static?

Question

I'm trying populate a JComboBox, whenever a button is clicked in a different frame. In the other frame, there is a text field where a person enters a name for example and a submit button, that is all. Every time the submit button is clicked, I want to populate the JComboBox. Here is the code to demonstrate what I mean. The code works, with static variables, something I'm wanting to avoid if possible.

public class Frame1Panel extends JPanel{
    private static MyComboBox comboBox;
    private JButton addItemsButton, exitButton;

    public Frame1Panel() {              
        comboBox = new MyComboBox();    
        exitButton = new JButton("exit");
        addItemsButton = new JButton("Add Items");

        Dimension dim = addItemsButton.getPreferredSize();
        addItemsButton.setPreferredSize(dim);

        setupLayout();

        exitButton.setPreferredSize(dim);

        addItemsButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                if(e.getSource() == addItemsButton) {
                    Frame2 frame2 = Frame2.getInstance();
                    frame2.setVisible(true);
                }
            }
        });

        //This is what I'm trying to avoid.  This works of course
        public static MyComboBox getComboBox() {
            return comboBox;
        }

    }
}

If you notice, I just use Frame1Panel and call the getComboBox method and of course the addItem method and it works as expected. Again is there way where I can avoid using static?

public class Frame2Panel extends JPanel {
    private JTextField nameTextField;
    private JLabel nameLabel;
    private JButton submitButton;

    public Frame2Panel() {
        setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        nameTextField = new JTextField(10);
        nameLabel = new JLabel("Name: ");
        submitButton = new JButton("Submit");

        setupLayout();

        submitButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
                String name = nameTextField.getText();
                Frame1Panel.getComboBox().addItem(name);
            }
        });
    }
}

If anyone is wondering as to why I have a separate MyComboBox class, that is because I incorporate the DefaultComboBoxModel so Eclipse doesn't yell at me, when I use the window design editor, it isn't necessary to the question to include it, You can assume MyComboBox doesn't exist and just think it is JComboBox instead.