01
Bathing, dressing and grooming
Unhurried, private and done the way each resident has always done it.
Included
Chapter 01 — Along Backbone Creek, north of Main Street, Marble Falls, TX
Residential care · Marble Falls, Texas
Every resident here has a story. We know them by heart.
A licensed residential care home for fourteen on Backbone Creek, a short walk from Main Street. Steady care, slow mornings and a porch that faces the water.
Chapter one
It starts at the kitchen table.
Ruth Ann Kowalski was a social worker at the hospital in Burnet for twenty years. The question she asked most was the one nobody else had time for: tell me about your mother. In 2006 she bought the limestone house on Backbone Creek and built a care home around that question.
Every move-in still starts the same way. We sit at the long pine table with the family and write down the stories: the jobs, the hometowns, the hymns, the things that make a person laugh and the things that make them anxious. Then we care for that person, not just their diagnosis.
— Ruth Ann Kowalski, LMSW, founder and administrator
We believe care should begin with a story, not a chart. Before anyone moves in, we sit at the kitchen table with the family and ask who this person has been. The answers shape everything that follows: the coffee, the music, the walk, the words we use at night.
What sets us apart
Three things we never rush
02
Hospice partnership
Residents may stay with us through the end of life.
Coordinated
03
Three meals at the long table
Cooked here, with kolaches on Saturdays and peach cobbler from Stonewall peaches.
Included- 14residents in private rooms
- 2006the year Ruth Ann opened the doors
- 11years, the average tenure of our caregivers
- 1creek, two porches and a lot of rocking chairs
Photo tour
Scenes from Backbone Creek
Rooms & suites
Rooms on the creek
Fourteen private rooms. Most face the water, and every one has room for a favorite chair and a wall of family photographs.
01
Creek room
Faces the water and the cypress trees, with morning light and a reading chair.
- Private room
- Creek view
- Ceiling fan
02
Garden room
Looks over the raised beds and the pecan trees, near the kitchen.
- Private room
- Garden view
- Near the kitchen
03
Room with private bath
A larger room with a walk-in shower, built for walkers and wheelchairs.
- Private bath
- Walk-in shower
- Wide doorway
04
Porch room
Steps from the creek porch, for residents who like to be outdoors.
- Near the porch
- Creek view
- Private bath
05
Companion suite
Two bedrooms sharing a sitting room and bath, for spouses or siblings.
- Two bedrooms
- Sitting room
- Shared bath
Our team
The people in our story
Ruth Ann Kowalski, LMSW
Founder and administrator
Gloria Castañeda, RN
Consulting registered nurse
Nadia Torres, LVN
Day nurse
Adaeze Okonkwo, CMA
Lead caregiver
Sample family reviews
In our families' words
Ruth Ann spent two hours asking about Dad before she asked a single question about his medications. That is when I knew.
Mom was a rodeo secretary in the fifties. Adaeze knows every story, and asks for new ones every morning.
The life-story book they made for Grandpa is now a family treasure. We have copies for all the grandkids.
Dad gets anxious in the evening. They play Glenn Miller and walk him to the creek, because his book says that is what calms him.
Saturday kolaches. That is all I will say.
Nadia called me after the cardiologist visit with a full summary before I had left work.
My parents share the companion suite. They sit on the creek porch every afternoon and hold hands like teenagers.
When Mom went on hospice, the whole house read her favorite psalm with her. Every caregiver knew which one.
Fourteen residents means the people who care for her truly know her. You can feel it in the way they talk to her.
We drove the whole Highland Lakes looking for the right place. This was the only one that asked who she was before what she needed.
Ratings & recognition · sample
- Burnet County Readers' Choice · Best Senior Care (sample)
- Marble Falls Chamber · Small Business Award (sample)
- Family survey · 99% would recommend (sample)
- Licensed assisted living · Texas HHSC
Now hiring
Caregivers who like to listen. Steady shifts, paid training and a team that stays.
Visit
On the creek, north of Main
- 905 Backbone Creek Drive
Marble Falls, TX
Park under the pecans along the front drive. The walk to the door is level granite pavers, no steps. - (830) 555-0139
- Text us
- hello@backbonecreekhouse.example
- Backbone Creek House
Tour & office hours
- Tours, Mon – Sat9a – 5:30p
- Office, Mon – Fri8a – 5p
- Families visitAny time
The creek porch is shaded after two o'clock, which is when most families like to sit out.
Come tell us their story.
A tour takes about an hour and ends at the kitchen table with coffee. Call or text Ruth Ann, or choose a time below.