IN LOVING MEMORY Niles Fredrick Nelson Nov. 7, 1952-April 19, 2026 Niles Fredrick Nelson, 73, passed away peacefully at his home in Libby on April 19, 2026. A visitation was held on April 23 at the Schnackenberg and Riddle Funeral Home Chapel in Libby, Montana. The funeral was held the following day at the Libby Assembly of God Church. Niles served two terms as both board member and past chairman of the Montana State Board of Funeral Service and had also been a member of the Montana Coroners Association, the Montana Funeral Directors Association, the National Funeral Directors Association, the American Society of Embalmers and the Cremation Association of North America. To honor his service and commitment to MFDA and the funeral profession, we would like to share the story about Niles’ journey into the profession and the career that followed, told in his own words. I was born on Nov. 7, 1952, at the base hospital in Ft. Benning, Georgia, while Dad was serving with the Seventh Cavalry in Korea. Mom assured me, however, that I was indeed made in Montana from genuine Montana parentage — Mom being from Anaconda and Dad from Kalispell. I lived in Polson, where Dad had his first job as a band teacher, and then we moved to Libby in 1957 when I was a whole 4-and-a-half years old. Dad was the director of music at Libby Public Schools throughout my entire childhood until my graduation from Libby High School in 1971. While in my junior year, I became hopelessly attracted to a little blond-haired, blue-eyed girl named Bobbie Brown, who was one year my junior. Never pooh-pooh the notion of love at first sight! The knot was tied in 1973 and has remained that way for over 50 years. I moved to Missoula and attended the University of Montana (U of M), with a stint in the Army in the middle of the process. I majored in sociology and social work and played with the U of M Jazz Workshop band and the U of M Wind Ensemble to break the monotony. Sociology is about as interesting as watching a lake dry up. In those years, most colleges of mortuary science were private schools, and to meet the licensure requirements of two academic college years in addition to one year of mortuary college, this time at U of M was necessary. Most of those private colleges are now gone and have become part of community colleges that offer an AA degree with an “all-in-one” approach to mortuary science education. This is a much better way, in my opinion. During that time, my interest in funeral service increased as Bobbie and I lived in the upstairs apartment of Livingston & Malletta Funeral Directors in Missoula. While working previously for the city of Libby during high school, my main job was taking care of the cemetery. During that time, I worked with Mel Vial, the mortician at our local funeral home. I learned much about funeral service from him, but based on some negative experiences he had in funeral service, he attempted to try and talk me out of it. “What the hell do you want to do this for?!” was his favorite counsel. “It’s a big world out there, and there are lots of other opportunities besides this,” was another. You can see how well I followed his advice. 18 | MONTANA FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION
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