Tyson Moore
Tyson Moore is a licensed funeral director and general manager at Garden City Funeral Home and Crematory. He also oversees the day-to-day operations of five Western Montana firms. Tyson has been serving the Missoula community for over 10 years. Before moving to Montana, he lived in Colorado, where he and his family owned and operated a monument sales and manufacturing company serving Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming families. He has also worked on memorial projects throughout the United States. His largest project to date is the Korean War Memorial for the state of New Jersey, located on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.
His time away from the funeral home is spent with his wife and five children, along with Frasier, the therapy dog he brings to the funeral home. He is also quite active with his church community.
Steve Kirkegard
Steve Kirkegard recently had the honor of becoming a team member and owner of the Bullis Mortuary in Hardin. He understands the importance of community values and service to those needing assistance in their greatest time of need. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Great Falls and a science degree from the prestigious Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science in Pittsburgh, PA.
Steve and his wife, Valarie, have worked in the funeral industry in Billings and with the Fort Peck Tribe in Roosevelt County, Fort Belknap Tribe and Northern Cheyenne Tribe. They now serve the Crow Nation and communities of Hardin and Billings as well. When they are not working, they love visiting the Pacific Ocean, spending time with family and friends, their pup Buddy and serving others in this profession, which isn’t a job but a calling.
Bri Mulvaney
Bri Mulvaney grew up in a small town in California called Yucaipa but has been in Montana for almost 20 years. She attended Montana State University (MSU), where she studied Elementary Education. After MSU, she began working for the Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home.
She works at and is one of the owners of Axelson Funeral and Cremation Services in Butte and Longfellow Finnegan Riddle Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Anaconda. One of her favorite parts of managing and being an owner of a funeral home is setting a pace and standard for those who work for them and for the community.
Bri has been married to Nick Mulvaney since Aug. 8, 2015. They deeply enjoy sharing work life and the connection they have built because of that. Outside of her professional life, Bri enjoys spending time with family and friends, axe throwing on occasion, playing golf with Nick, yoga and watching live comedy shows.
Rick Walter
Rick Walter was born and raised in Butte, Montana. He graduated from the University of Montana Western with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. In 1998, Rick joined the staff at a local Butte funeral home. In 2001, he received his Mortuary Science Degree from Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon.
Rick moved to Great Falls and worked at Schnider and O’Connor Funeral Homes until 2010 when he moved to Missoula and worked at Sunset Memorial Gardens and Garden City Funeral Homes. In 2017, he moved back to Great Falls to be closer to his children and grandchildren. He works at Schnider Funeral Home. In his spare time, Rick enjoys reading and collecting books, as well as camping and kayaking. He is also a fan of the Green Bay Packers in football and the Atlanta Braves in baseball.
Chris Holt
Chris Holt was born in Helena, Montana, and graduated high school in Oregon. He began working part-time as a funeral assistant in Great Falls, Montana, in 2000 and decided to serve families full-time in funeral service. He enrolled at the Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon, where he graduated from Funeral Service in 2007.
Chris and his family moved to Helena and have been serving the Helena community and surrounding areas since 2007. He currently has been working for Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home since 2010.
Chris is married to his wife, Kelly, and they have five children: Justine, Joey, Tristen, Armanie and Madison. Chris is a member of the Helena Lions Club, a Master Mason of Helena Lodge #3, a member of the Montana Funeral Directors Association — in which he currently serves as the Montana Representative to the NFDA — and a member of the National Funeral Directors Association.
Matt Coon
Matt Coon was raised in Miles City, Montana, and began his career, like many, by working at the funeral home washing cars, mowing lawns and general maintenance. That expanded into working visitations, watching phones (before cell phones) and helping with services. He was convinced to go into funeral service after high school and graduated from Mt. Hood Community College in 1994. Matt returned to Miles City, where he worked with Stevenson & Sons for many years.
In 2009, he married Michelle and moved to Billings. He worked for Batesville for two years before their son, Alex, was born. After 18 months of being a stay-at-home dad, he was excited to get back to work and joined Medallion Vault & Casket in 2013, where he has remained ever since. Matt’s family enjoys traveling and attending Alex’s sporting events throughout the year.
Fred Nelson
Fred Nelson was born and raised in Southern Idaho. In high school, he lost three very good friends in a very tragic car accident. This event, along with a family friend who was the local funeral director, prompted him to pursue a career in funeral service. After graduating high school, he started an internship in Boise, Idaho, and graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science in 1965.
After receiving his Idaho Mortuary license, Fred worked for a brief time in Moscow, Idaho. He then moved to Missoula, where he worked for several years. He then moved to Polson, where he has worked for the last 25 years at Grogan Funeral Home, which is now the Lake Funeral Home.
Fred has been married 52 years to his wife, Sherry, and together, they have two daughters, four grandsons and a great-granddaughter. He enjoys spending time with his family and on Flathead Lake in the summer.
Jessie Billquist
Jessie Billquist is a Montana native, born and raised in Anaconda, Montana. After graduating from Montana Tech with a bachelor’s degree in occupational safety and the University of Montana with a master’s degree in physical therapy, she began her professional career as a pediatric physical therapist. She enjoyed working in that field for over 20 years.
In 2011, Jessie joined the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Coroner’s Office as a deputy coroner, and in 2018, she was appointed as the coroner. Jessie saw firsthand the impact that caring and empathetic funeral directors had on the families they assisted. She returned to school to pursue her goal of becoming a funeral director/mortician. She earned her Mortuary Science Degree in 2021 from Arapahoe Community College and began her career. She currently works at Longfellow Finnegan Riddle Funeral Home and Cremation Service, where she is the manager and funeral director/mortician.
Outside of work, Jessie loves spending time with her husband, Doug, and their six children.
Scott Stevenson
Scott Stevenson was born and raised in Miles City, Montana. He graduated from Custer County District High School in 2002 and then went to Dickinson State University, where he got his degree in business management. Scott then attended Mt. Hood Mortuary School, where he graduated in the summer of 2007. He is currently a director at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Homes.
Scott and his wife, Andrea, have two children, Landon and Emerson. Scott is a member of the Grace Bible Church, The Miles City Club, the Town and Country Club, the Montana Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association. Like others in his family, he enjoys Montana’s outdoor life, including hunting, fishing, golfing and watching football whenever he can find some time for relaxing.
Austin Asper
Austin Asper started working in the death care industry at 16 years old when his father decided to take over the funeral homes in Shelby and Cut Bank. He started by washing cars, mowing lawns and handing out pamphlets at funerals. When he graduated high school in 2015, he went off to college to pursue a degree in psychology. After a semester, Austin moved to Argentina for two years, where he met his wife, Molly.
Austin moved back to Utah after returning from Argentina and changed his major from psychology to mortuary science. While he went to school, he worked an apprenticeship at Larkin Mortuary in Salt Lake City. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin cut his apprenticeship in Utah short and returned home to assist the family business. He has been here ever since.
Austin currently resides with his wife, dog and son in Shelby, Montana. He hopes to be able to take over the family business and continue to serve families in North Montana for years to come.
Katie Baca
Katie Baca grew up in New Mexico and moved to Montana for graduate school. She became interested in becoming a funeral director after working as a crematory technician for a couple of years. She decided to get her associate’s online while she finished her Ph.D. at the University of Montana. She’s worked as a director at Garden City Funeral Home and Just Cremation Montana ever since.
Katie and her husband just had their first child in January, so they have been very focused on him this year! They also have two dogs and two horses and enjoy getting outside to appreciate the beautiful Montana scenery anytime they can.
T.J. Stevenson
From the day he was born, T.J. Stevenson has been part of a funeral service family. His grandfather, Dale Stevenson, started Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City in 1962. Since then, his father, Todd, and uncles Joe and Jon — along with their respective spouses — have spread their wings into serving communities in Montana and North Dakota.
What T.J. enjoys most about funeral service is meeting and helping families during their most difficult times. He finds it quite rewarding to be able to hold a person’s hand and help walk them through hard decisions, be able to cross paths with families he might never have met otherwise and be able to forge long-time friendships.
