Obituaries : * Sallie Spear; 95, Longtime Santa Paula Resident

Sallie Spear, a longtime Santa Paula resident and blue-ribbon quilter, has died after a long illness. She was 95.

Born June 7, 1900, in Cumberland County, Ky., Spear taught school before meeting and marrying her husband, Cliance Spear. She was 21 years old when they came to Santa Paula. She found work at the Briggs Packing House, where she was employed for 50 years as a citrus packer, until she retired.

After her husband died in 1958, Sallie kept busy with her family and her hobbies. “She was in great demand for her quilts,” said her daughter, Hazel Keene Outland, of Santa Paula. “She had a whole box of blue ribbons.”

She loved to sing as well, and could play the piano by ear. “When the whole family got together, everyone would sing and play an instrument. It was beautiful to listen to,” Outland said.

Spear kept busy in other ways, too. “She loved her garden and her roses,” Outland recalled. She was also a deaconess with the Santa Paula First Christian Church. And Spear also loved to bowl, hitting the pins well into her ‘70s.

“She was a feisty little thing,” Outland said. “And she had a beautiful sense of humor.”

In addition to her daughter, Spear is survived by her son, Robert Spear of Fruitdale, Idaho, her sister, Madeline Riherd, of Cave City, Ky., five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to the Santa Clara Valley Hospice or to the Santa Paula Memorial Hospital in Spears’ memory.

Funeral arrangements are being made by Pierce Brothers Stetler Mortuary, Santa Paula.

Bellace, Rose, 91, of Ojai, retired clothing firm worker, Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.

Borchert, Joseph J., 88, of Thousand Oaks, retired U.S. Army colonel, Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Thousand Oaks.

Eyford, Berdene S., 92, of Thousand Oaks, homemaker, Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Thousand Oaks.

Fremlin, Vera Addison, 87, of Ventura, retired Fillmore Unified School District teacher, Skillin Carroll Mortuary, Fillmore.

Julian, Marilyn W., 68, Thousand Oaks, retired administrative assistant, Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary, Westlake Village.

Moore, Mae Elizabeth, 92, of Ojai, homemaker, Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.

Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by cooperating mortuaries.