“My mom spent the last two months of her life here and we couldn’t have picked a better place. The staff and the home was beyond meeting our expectations. It truly allowed us to spend quality time with mom and they treated her like a queen.”
— Mary M.
About
Ethel Spear (Founder)
pictured with her husband, Woodrow Owen Spear.
Ethel Spear founded The Spear Home in 1964. It quickly grew into a ministry that touched the lives of elderly women and their families for 38 years until her death in 2002. Ethel believed that everyone should be well fed and well cared for. She was an excellent cook. If you were fortunate enough to enter her house and eat one of her home-cooked meals, you were sure to feel the spirit of care that permeated the home.
The Spear Home is a Tudor Revival style house built in the 1930s on a street originally known as “Silk Stocking Row”. The house was restored, top to bottom, to its’ original style in 2007. The restoration project created a pleasant and, most importantly, safer environment for residents.
Since 1964, many women have made the residence at 1001 E. Taylor Ave their home. One notable resident was Eustacia “Sunshine” Hill Caul. Sunshine was the daughter of Harlingen’s founder, Lon C. Hill. She spent her last days at The Spear Home writing her memoir. With husband Kenny, Lisa (Spear) Salazar, Ethel's granddaughter, continues a nearly 60-year tradition of compassionate care for elderly women in the same, remodeled and updated, house providing quality personal service in a private home environment.