State Review Board Pulls Butte Mortician’s License

A state review panel has suspended a Butte mortician's license and the license for his brother's crematorium.

The Board of Funeral Service took "emergency action" on March 5 to temporarily suspend Jim Axelson's mortician's license and the crematory license for Butte Crematories, Inc., which is owned by Stephen Axelson.

Wayrynen-Richards Funeral Home in Butte and Longfellow-Finnegan Funeral Home in Anaconda filed complaints against the Axelsons last year.

The Board of Funeral Service found Stephen Axelson's crematory was also being used by Jim Axelson as a mortuary to prepare bodies for cremation without the proper facilities or licensing.

Jim Axelson says he believes the complaints stem from his business cutting into the competitions' profits.