Meet Our Caring Team

Rick Evans, owner and operator of Garden City Funeral Home and Crematory and four other locations in Missoula and Western Montana, has been a funeral director since 1981. Rick started working in Missoula at Livingston-Malleta and Geraghty funeral home in June of 1981. For a short time he worked in Whitefish and Columbia Falls until returning to Missoula and building Garden City Funeral Home and Crematory in 1989. 

In his spare time, Rick enjoys traveling, boating, fishing and golfing living at Canyon River Golf Course. He and his wife, Sally, have four children and four grandchildren whom they enjoy immensely. He is active in the Montana Funeral Directors Association serving as president twice and also serving on the National level with the National Funeral Directors Association. He is a member of Sentinel Kiwanis, Missoula Builders Club, St. Anthony Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus.

Tyson has been serving Missoula families for nearly 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. Tyson has a degree in Mortuary Science from Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, CO.

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.

Luke came to us from Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Biology and a minor in Psychology. Luke continued his education and obtained his Mortuary Science degree from Des Moines Area Community College. He has worked as a funeral director since 2012. He is a member of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association, Montana Funeral Directors Association and National Funeral Directors Association. 

Luke married his wife, Carson, in 2019. They enjoy spending time outdoors with their rescue dog, Freja. They enjoy being active in the community and making Missoula home. Luke’s hobbies include hiking, biking, skiing, bowling, playing bridge, and enjoying the company of others.

Courtney is from Salmon, Idaho, and has a bachelor’s degree in mortuary science and funeral service with a minor in sociology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. (Go Salukis!) She also has training through the Selected Independent Funeral Home Leadership Academy. Courtney felt called to funeral service with the sudden death of her younger brother in 2005. She began working in a funeral home that year and enrolled in the program at SIUC following high school graduation.

Courtney and her husband, Eli, have two boys, Bode and Benjamin. She is a member of Christ the King Parish in Missoula, the Montana Funeral Directors Association, and the National Funeral Directors Association. In her free time, Courtney enjoys reading, hiking, skiing, traveling and generally being outdoors.

Vanessa has been a licensed funeral director since 2014. She grew up in  the state of Washington and attended Lake Washington Institute of Technology where she obtained her associate degree in mortuary science. She moved to Missoula in 2014 following her internship at Evergreen - Washelli in Seattle. 

Vanessa took a brief hiatus from funeral directing to work for the Red Cross and returned to Garden City in 2023. 

In her free time, she enjoys working out, gardening, and spending time with her three beautiful Boxers: Toffee, Lucy, and Bravo.

Jasmyn, born and raised in Missoula, started at Garden City in 2022 as support staff while attending Arapahoe Community College. After graduating and obtaining her degree in Mortuary Science in the summer of 2023, she began her internship as a licensed funeral director intern.

She is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association and the Pi Sigma Eta National Morticians Fraternity.

In her spare time, Jasmyn enjoys thrifting, doing puzzles, watching movies, and spending time with friends and family.