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. 12 | Directors Digest
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