It’s late. Most people would be sleeping. Tim Dunn was – until his telephone rang. On nights like these, he gets ready for work, heads to his office and swaps his car for the hearse.

Death happens at any time of day, and Tim, one of the owners of Dunn Funeral Home in Bowling Green, must respond to the calls.

‘It’s tough to get out of bed in the middle of the night,’ said Tim, who must pick up the body and take it to the funeral home, embalms the body and then returns home to his bed, just to get up later that morning to meet with the family members of the deceased.

Tim spent much of his childhood – all the years after 1974 when he was 11 or 12 years old – at the funeral home in some capacity. He started with mowing the grass, which is now the only chore he does not do at the funeral parlor.

He and his brother Stephen do all the pickups, nearly all of the embalming, all cosmetic work, prepare the visitation periods, run each service and complete all the chores required by the late 1880s Victorian home in which the business is housed.

And they are on call every minute of every day.

The house is stately, and when it is approached, it is like stepping back in time 11 decades to when it was built. Wicker furniture crowds the large front porch.

It is quiet, it is private and it is peaceful. There is a small breeze and the traffic on Wooster Street is barely audible. All that is missing is a pitcher of lemonade and beautiful ladies strolling on the porch or playing croquet in the yard in fancy dresses.

The inside is no different.

The carpet is plush and the colors are soft. Nothing is bright, nothing is glaring and nothing is distracting.

Tim is no different.

He is quiet, not verbose; he sits up straight and cares about his appearance – he pulled up his socks twice while he talked about himself; and he is calm and peaceful, just like the house.

Traditions:

The business opened in 1974, but neither Tim’s father nor his brother Stephen were new to the mortuary field. Both graduated from mortuary school and were working for other businesses before they decided to start their own in Bowling Green.

By having family members involved in the trade, Tim was aware of what it takes to work at a funeral home. He said he had a ‘general interest growing up in it,’ which kept the thought of going to mortuary school always in the back of his head, he said.

He graduated from Bowling Green High School and Bowling Green State University with a teaching degree and a coaching minor. He wanted to coach high school or college baseball or basketball.

Instead of pursuing that track, Tim went to the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Sciences, just like his father and brother. Then, after three exams and a year-long apprenticeship at Dunn Funeral Home, Tim decided it was too late to change his mind.

‘I put so much effort into it, I stayed,’ he said.

The effort he put into the business has continued, because his daughter Brittany, a sophomore at Oakland University, north of Detroit, wants to continue the business.

She’s seen how successful her father and uncle have been and wants to have a life like they have.

‘It’s not the happiest occupation to be around,’ Brittany said, but it is what she wants to do and is glad her father followed his father’s footsteps.

‘I don’t wish he would have done anything else.’

Life outside the funeral home:

Tim did not give up his love for baseball when he opted for mortuary school. He’s the president of Bowling Green Pee Wee League, and this is his 31st year of participating in the organization.

‘He’s Mr. Pee Wee Baseball in Bowling Green,’ said Bowling Green’s mayor, John Quinn.

Since baseball games in Bowling Green are played at Carter Park, a city park, any improvements the baseball association wants must be approved by the city council, Quinn said.

‘No one has shown greater dedication or worked harder to make improvements [than Tim Dunn],’ Quinn said.

Jim Stram, the vice president of public funds at Fifth Third Bank in Bowling Green and the junior commissioner for the baseball league, has worked with Tim for 15 years at little league.

Tim’s work and vision for the pee wee baseball has led to an unrivaled baseball facility in northwest Ohio, Stram said.

‘He has such a passion for it,’ Stram said. ‘He just pours his whole being into it.’

Life inside the funeral home:

A funeral home director needs to be someone who can communicate with people who are likely at the most difficult time in their lives.

Tim’s sister Suzanne Dunn, the administrator of Dunn’s Kiddie Kare, which is owned by their mother, said her brother is right for the job.

‘He has shown a genuine desire to be there,’ Suzanne Dunn said.

She said funeral directors need to be able to connect with the people they are serving, have compassion and be sincere.

Stram said Tim uses those skills at little league meetings, especially when parents get emotional about their children.

Those skills are used every day on the job because each family has different requests, making every situation different. When the Dunns’ father died in 2001, it made connecting with their customers easier, Stephen said.

Tim wants to provide support and comfort to families when Dunn Funeral Home is selected.

‘I take a lot of pride in trying to assist them along the grieving process,’ he said.

This means a lot to him.

‘When a family loses a loved one, and they call Dunn Funeral Home, number one, it’s a nice compliment they’ve entrusted us with their loved one,’ he said.

So he and his brother try their best to satisfy the family’s requests. They want to ‘meet the needs and wants to celebrate the life of a loved one,’ Tim said.

As technology has changed, more personalization has been added to funeral services, visitation periods and headstones. Tim and Stephen make memorial video slideshows that are played during the visitation periods. They fill tables with personal mementos.

These bring laughter and good memories to the families and friends, Tim said.

Even with this new technology, families are requesting a horse-drawn hearse, rather than an automobile.

The Dunns have been using the horse-drawn hearse for two years. Two families they know provide the horses.

The hearse is original. It was found at an auction 3 1/2 years ago and the Dunns placed the highest bid. An Amish family refurbished it, and now it is often requested.

‘People gravitate to it,’ Tim said. ‘It adds a very traditional touch in celebrating someone’s life.’

Just then, he receives a phone call he needs to take. The caller requested the horse-drawn hearse.

Keeping dignity:

When Tim knows the deceased, he said the service becomes that much harder to conduct. He tries his best to stay emotionally detached and stay in the role of a businessman, but it is tough for him when the deceased is a child, young adult, accident victim, close friend or family member.

He said he must provide excellence to care for the family and keep ‘the dignity of the deceased.’

Quinn said he did just that when the Dunns handled the funeral for his daughter.

‘I was very pleased with the way the Dunns handled the entire situation,’ Quinn said.

The second most important thing:

Tim and his seven siblings learned to understand what life was like with a parent in the funeral home business.

His mother, Marian Dunn, said he learned to cope with his father not being home, not being there for meals and not always available to help with homework.

Stephen said he and his brother do have lives aside from their work at the funeral home.

‘Other than family, this is the most important thing in our lives,’ Stephen said.

Brittany is thankful her father had this job. He is able to make his own schedule and balance family and work, even with a job where he was always on call.

And with this field, there will always be business.

‘I don’t have to worry about losing my job,’ Brittany said.

Even with that security, Suzanne would rather not make any referrals to him.

‘I’d rather he refer people to us than me refer people to him,’ she said.

Like her father, Brittany has lived in the funeral home and has friends somewhat ‘grossed out’ by the job duties.

But the opportunity for a successful career is there.

‘When you work and live here, you just feel comfortable here,’ Tim said.