Daryl Lance Spears

A memorial service celebrating the life of Daryl Lance Spears, 68, of West Monroe, Louisiana will be held at 3:30 P.M., Sunday, April 13, 2025 in the chapel of Mulhearn Funeral Home, West Monroe. The visitation will be held from 2:30 P.M. until the time of service.

Daryl Lance Spears was born on March 11,1957 in Phoenix, Arizona. He and his family later relocated to West Monroe, Louisiana. After graduating from West Monroe High School in 1975, he went on to work in the oil and gas industry with his father. He later learned a trade and spent the last thirty-six years as a welder and machinist. After many years of dedicated service he retired from Andritz International. He had a love for land and the outdoors, specifically the Southwest. He loved a good talk over a cup of coffee. He was a beloved father and grandfather.

Daryl, though born in the 50s, was a man perhaps best suited for a different time. Throughout his life, he was a hunter, a bowler, a golfer, a welder, a machinist, an autodidact, and even a gold prospector on occasion. He was a man who worked with his hands. He’d sooner spend a vacation mining than soaking up the sun on a crowded beach.

Though a man of solitude, Daryl was also someone who could talk for hours about nearly any subject. And what he shared wasn’t just an ordinary opinion—it was what he had studied, questioned, and come to believe. He sought truth and understanding, not simply the consensus of the day. You weren’t going to sway him with opinions of pundits or trends on social media. He was his own man, with his own thoughts and beliefs.

A gentle giant, Daryl, was one of the most light-hearted people you could ever meet. In a single conversation, he would hit you with a thousand smiles, a thousand laughs. Much like those conversations, our time with him left us richer—better for having known him.

He may be gone, but his smile, his contagious laugh, his simple ways, and his unyielding curiosity will remain with us. They will stay in our hearts as memories, as inspirations, and as reminders of the good that still exists in this world.

Daryl is preceded in death by a daughter, Cassidy Arizona “Zoie” Spears; brother, Steven “Steve” T. Spears; grandparents, Lela Radish and husband, Al, Joseph C. Foutz and wife, Janice, James H. Spears Sr. and Mary “Irene” Whiddon Spears; and parents, Wayne Julius Spears and Peggy Lou Foutz Spears.

Left to cherish and honor his memory are his twin sister, Darlene Spears; daughter, Cassidy Burns and husband, Caleb; son, Dakota Spears and wife, Kellie; grandchildren, Brady, Braxton, Zoey, Colton, Cameron, and TJ; brother, Robert “Bob” Spears and wife, Pam; uncle, Sam Spears and wife, Elvena; as well as his friends from J-Mart and his coffee-drinking buddies.