About Us
About Us & Our Commitment to You
Funeral homes in Vernon stretch back to 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Cunningham owned and operated a furniture and coffin store. Later, they went into partnership with T.J. Youngblood and opened the Youngblood and Underwood Funeral Home. After the death of Mr. Youngblood, the funeral home's name was changed to Underwood Funeral Home. Underwood Funeral Home was the first funeral home in North Texas to offer a chapel, services, embalming, and caskets all in one location. In 1953, Charles Sullivan, James Sullivan, and their father, L.J. Sullivan, purchased the funeral home from the Underwood family and changed the name to Sullivan Funeral Home. They operated the funeral home and kept expanding their services and service area. The Sullivans then purchased the other funeral homes in Vernon. By 1971, they were the only funeral home left in Vernon, and built a new building across the street from the original, where the current funeral home still stands.
Otis Smith purchased the business from the Sullivan brothers on January 1, 1984, and it remains the only funeral home to serve Wilbarger County. Otis was dedicated to providing complete funeral services to the residents in Vernon and the surrounding communities. On April 1, 1997, Mr. Smith purchased Womack-Manard Funeral Home in Crowell and Chillicothe and Price-Jackson Funeral Home in Quanah. With these purchases, he was able to expand his devoted service to serve a three-county region in North Texas. Robert Webb joined the funeral home in 2002, and Smith’s son-in-law, Patrick Parmer, in July 2014. In 2020, Sullivan Funeral Home constructed an on-site crematorium to offer cremation services as well as traditional services.
Otis Smith passed away in June of 2022. With his passing, ownership and operations of the funeral home passed to his wife, Vickie Smith, and son-in-law, Patrick Parmer. The Smith, Parmer, and Webb families, along with all funeral home staff, plan to keep providing thoughtful and ever-expanding service to the great families in the North Texas region for years to come.
