Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home in Miles City has been recognized as the 2011 Family Business of the Year. This flourishing family business has expanded through multiple generations to serving a significant portion of Montana and to include a number of different enterprises.

Dale and Marlene Stevenson first purchased a funeral home in Miles City in 1962. Since then Stevenson and Sons Funeral Home has expanded into Forsyth, Broadus, Terry, Jordan, Wolf Point, Circle, Poplar, Culbertson and Helena. There are currently three generations involved in the business, including the first licensed woman funeral director in Montana.

 

Dale and Marlene were raised in Merrill, Wisconsin. They moved to Miles City in 1959, after graduating from Mortuary School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

They worked for the Graves Funeral Home in Miles City while starting their family. After getting experience in the business, Dale was eager to purchase a funeral home. The funeral home across the street from Graves had gone broke twice, but the price was right and affordable for the young couple, with three children and one more on the way.

Their fourth child was born later that year and they raised their family in an apartment above the business. They later adopted a baby girl, bringing the number of children to five.

At young ages, the Stevenson’s four sons worked in the funeral home, helping their father.

The family could rarely afford a vacation because they would have to hire someone to cover the business while they were away. Marlene was the bookkeeper and helped answer the phones that rang right into their home 24-7. Going out to dinner or any event, they had to hire “phone sitters” to answer the phone.

Joe, the oldest son, graduated from Mount Hood, Oregon in Mortuary Science, and returned home to join the family business. In 1981, he married Mary Jo Riley, a Broadus native.

Jon married Marly Kolka of Stacy, and then attended school in Mount Hood, receiving a degree in Mortuary Science.

Looking at a growing family, Marlene and Dale started looking around for a way to expand the family business. Dale’s brother, Lee, owned the funeral home in Baker and Ekalaka, and was ready to sell.

Dale and Marlene were able to purchase the business and Jon and Marlys moved to Baker.

After High School graduation in 1981, Todd married Terri Shelton in 1982. After working in the business for awhile, they both went to Mortuary School, graduating in 1984. Terri became the first licensed woman funeral director in Montana. They returned to Miles City to join the family business.

The town of Broadus did not have a Funeral Home, so in 1984 the Stevenson’s established a Funeral Chapel in Broadus. And, in 1985 they established another in Jordon, eighty miles to the north of Miles City.

In 1988 Joe, Jon and Todd bought Dale and Marlene’s interest in the operation. With different goals and visions for the business, Jon formed a separate corporation, Stevenson Funeral Homes, involving the Baker and Ekalaka funeral homes. He later expanded into Western North Dakota.

Joe, Patti JO, Todd and Terri formed Stevenson “>

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