Paul Glenn Spears

Paul Glenn Spears, 84, was welcomed into the arms of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, on October 5th, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. Paul was born in Lenoir, North Carolina, to Howard Wheeler Arnett (his natural father) and Dorothy Lavon Spears on April 13, 1941, a blessed Easter Sunday morning. Paul was adopted into his heavenly family through his second birth, by the grace of God, our Heavenly Father, on another Sunday morning in 1958.

Paul was a boy who loved nature and thought he might one day be a marine biologist. In school, he was involved in the Spanish club, the Key club, and the Student Council. He was the Spelling Bee champion one year, which he said was an important turning point in his elementary school life.

He attended Hudson High School where he met the love of his life, Grace Luvina Coffey. They married in 1959 while still seniors in high school. They wanted to get on with a hopeful and happy life together! Grace is God’s gift to Paul; to show him how to love and mature into a real husband and father. They have been married for 66 years, and have four children: Gwendolyn, Gary, Barry, and Paula (PJ); six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

After graduating from Hudson High School, Paul continued his education through Caldwell College of Commerce; the American Bankers Association; The College of Financial Planning; studies for numerous investment brokerage licenses; life, health, and annuity licenses through the State of Arizona; and licenses as an Arizona real estate agent and broker.

Paul worked in textile manufacturing, and at a burger drive-in restaurant, before moving his family from North Carolina to Flagstaff, Arizona in 1961. Working at a gas station paid the bills until he obtained employment at the First National Bank of Arizona. He quickly rose to bank manager, and was tasked to move around Arizona to start new branches in new locations: Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Globe, Scottsdale, and Phoenix.

After 20 years with the bank, he felt the calling of the Lord to give his life in full time Christian service. Paul left his bank management career to become the Business Manager of the Arizona Baptist Convention. He established a charitable foundation, which built 226 elderly housing apartments, created a national retirement plan for ministers and missionaries, relocated and built a new headquarters building, improved and expanded a youth camp, and started and assisted many new and growing churches. Paul served on many non-profit committees and boards, including the Phoenix Historical Society, a no-kill animal shelter, and even establishing a neighborhood association.

Paul had an eclectic range of interests. As an astronomy fan, he decided to go on hunts for meteorites and collect them. A little lower in the heavens lay his interest in flying, so he obtained a pilot’s license. Just for fun, he decided to skydive once as well. Fishing and hunting were favorite pastimes. He was an avid reader, loved NASCAR, and enjoyed working on home improvement projects. Paul and Grace traveled as church group leaders on Holy Land tours to the Middle East, which he considered highlights in his life. Shooting, and eventually reloading as well, rounded out a fascinating list of interests and hobbies.

Paul is survived by his wife, Grace, three of his four children, and the families of all of his children; two half-brothers, William Wade Spears and Kenneth Levi Fredell, and by four half-sisters, Ruby Elaine Keller, Betty Jean Andrews, Dianne Travis, and Judy Lorraine Goforth. Deceased are his son, Barry Allen Spears, and Paul’s twin siblings, Julius Andrew Fredell, Jr., and Mary Jeannette Fredell.

Paul has devoted his life to helping others, and is greatly loved and admired by all who have been blessed to know him.