DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, right there on East 6th Street in Austin. Now settle in, because this story spans more than half a century, and it belongs to the people who built something lasting out of a community's need. In October of 1901, a man named William M.
Tears opened the Tears Funeral Home at 614 East 6th Street. He was there to provide mortuary services for African Americans in Austin and the surrounding area — a calling that took steady hands, a steady heart, and no small measure of courage in that era. William M.
Tears kept that work going for more than two decades. And then, in 1923, he passed on. His son — William M.
Tears, Jr. — stepped into his father's role and took over as manager of the firm. That name, that work, carried forward. Meanwhile, across town, another story was gathering itself.
In 1933, Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. King opened their own establishment — King and Company, at 1107 East 6th Street — which would later be known as King Funeral Home.
Two operations, two families, both rooted in the same East Austin community, both doing work that mattered. Then Tears relocated to that same site in 1934, and King completed extensive remodeling in 1936. You can almost feel the two stories drawing closer.
And in 1955 — there it is — these two historic East Austin establishments merged to form the King-Tears Funeral Home. One name carrying both legacies forward, right there at that same address, with expanded services and charitable works woven into the life of the community. The marker calls King-Tears an important part of Austin's heritage, and after a hundred-plus years of showing up for people in their hardest moments, it's hard to argue otherwise.
What the marker says
King-Tears Mortuary In October 1901, William M. Tears opened the Tears Funeral Home at 614 E. 6th Street to provide mortuary services for African Americans in Austin and the surrounding area. Upon his death in 1923, his son William M. Tears, Jr. became manager of the firm. In 1933, Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. King opened King and Company (later King Funeral Home) at 1107 E. 6th Street. Tears relocated to this site in 1934, and King completed extensive remodeling in 1936. In 1955, these two historic East Austin establishments merged to form the King-Tears Funeral Home. Continuing to operate at this site with expanded services and charitable works in the community, King-Tears remains an important part of Austin's heritage. (2002)