Our family owned funeral home strives to provide grieving families with meaningful, compassionate, personal service and help with a loving tribute to those they love and will have to be without for a while.
Family Services Funeral Parlor was opened in 2002 after Victor Woods, Jr. decided he could offer his hometown community much better service at a much better price than the existing “big corporation” owned funeral home. He and his mother, Kay Woods Judd, started the business together and for several years were the only full time employees. In 2003, Vic met and married another longtime Kermit/Odessa resident, Amy Hudson Woods. As they began to consider growth opportunities for the business, Amy encouraged them to consider West Odessa – an area sorely in need of a funeral service provider. They found a home on West University and started discussing a possible name for the new location. The name “Acres West” was a top contender as it seemed to capture the spirit of the West Odessa area – an area populated by independent minded folk who often have livestock on their property and boots by their front doors. The name was clinched when at closing on the property it was discovered that the subdivision was named “Westover Acres.” It was a God thing.
In order to successfully operate two locations, Vic and Kay needed some full time help. In exchange for going to school, getting licensed, and helping to build the business from the ground up – they gave shares in the business to a local friend and Amy’s brother, John Hudson. The summer of 2005, while these two were at school, Kay and Vic enlisted the help of Vic’s father-in-law (John and Amy’s father – Jerald Hudson) and Kay’s husband in remodeling and adding on to the small home on West University, slowly turning it into the comfortable and spacious funeral home you see today. Officially opening the doors in November of 2005, Acres West began a quest to offer the community a more homelike, relaxed atmosphere where the families served are our number one priority.
As all families do, we have grown and changed. Some staff has married in, and some longtime employees we have adopted in that we cannot imagine being without. We have also seen a couple of shareholders go on their own way due to divorce and differences of opinion on the directions in which the company should go. However, Vic and Kay remain as the anchors that hold it all together and John is a permanent fixture at the Kermit location.
Although still a work in progress, continually expanding and adding on to better serve the Permian Basin, they are proud to still be the only funeral home in Odessa continually owned and operated by a family born and raised in the Permian Basin and proud to still be residents of Odessa and Kermit. Acres West Funeral Chapel is the only funeral home in Odessa where an owner is likely to greet you at the door, help you with your funeral planning, and fix the plumbing when it goes out!
