Tom Morris keeps his voice quiet and even, and his words precise, something that's become second nature after 30 years in the funeral business.

President of Downing-Lahey Mortuary, Morris never seems to tire of answering questions about his business.

The fourth generation to run the business, Morris, 48, has a business degree from KU and a degree in mortuary science from a college in Boca Raton, Fla., where he regularly indulged his passion for scuba diving. He's also an avid skier and woodworker.

He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children, one in college and two students at Andover High School.

So do you ever get funny looks when you tell people what you do for a living?

"People are fascinated by the business. Most wouldn't want to do it, but the majority are fascinated by it. Just like the old saying about death and taxes. Sooner or later, you're going to have use the funeral industry. How much is a matter of choice, but you're going to need this industry. It's important to maintain it in a respectful manner."

The job is 24/7. Do you still get calls in the middle of the night?

"I do not. The rest of my staff does. I did that for several years but have not done that for a while."

When you pick up a body is it more likely to be at home or an institution such as a hospital or nursing home?

"It's almost a 50/50 split. It didn't used to be that way. I used to be the majority of deaths occurred in an institutional-type setting, either a nursing home or a hospital. Now, with hospices as popular as they are, getting people back into comfortable family settings, there are more deaths happening at home.

Those can be very unusual and unique situations because death doesn't always happen in a place that's easy to get to."

Such as?

"Upstairs bedrooms or downstairs rooms. This is a very physical job."

Has weight gain become a problem?

"There is equipment we use to make it easier, but the bottom line is that it's very physical. Whenever there is a death in a home, we make sure there is help because you can't do it by yourself. The growing size of the population is definitely an issue in our industry."

How's business?

"That's a question people always ask me, and they always ask it with a chuckle. What I like to say is we're here to take care of it, we don't create it. What has always amazed me is how consistent death is in the population. If we look back for the last 10 to 20 years, there is something like 250 to 300 deaths in this city every month. I don't care what's going on, that's what it's going to average. You don't think that death is something that can be predicted, but it can be, on a large scale. Now the part of the business that is most difficult, and any funeral director would tell you, is the unexpected death: the traffic accident, the young deaths. We would just as soon not handle those type of business, but we do."

When do the police or coroner's office get involved?

"Any death that occurs in Sedgwick County that is unattended, in other words not under a doctor's care, they have to go through the coroner's office. It may be nothing more than a phone call, but they have to be notified there is a death that they may want to investigate.

"But the majority of all deaths are expected. They are people who have lived a long life and they pass away in a nursing home or hospital or under hospice care."

Do funeral directors ever get too used to dealing with death?

"When death occurs to somebody you know personally, it affects you personally. And I've said many times, when a funeral director stops being affected by the death of somebody they know personally, they've been in the business too long. We're humans, too. It is a job. It is an occupation. It is our livelihood, but it still affects us in a unique way when a loved one passes away."

Is society getting less squeamish about death?

"It's definitely less squeamish. TV has a lot to do with that. We've had a lot of shows over the years, both in positive and negative light.... But one thing I think is interesting. While people as a whole have become less religious, when it comes to death the majority still want a minister to officiate. I find that an interesting dichotomy. They don't want religion, but when it comes to death, they want religion involved at the funeral home. It's comforting."

Have you seen an impact from the recession?

"Our business is not recession-proof. We have seen they are more careful in how they spend their dollars. They want to make sure they are getting good value in the dollars they are spending. Yet we maintained our percentage of the business in town and have actually increased it in recent years."

How has the business changed?

"The funeral business has changed a lot over the last 10, 20 years. When my great-grandfather came into the business, everything was locally owned, a small business. Now the funeral industry is big business. The majority of firms in this town are not locally owned or family owned. They're owned by outside corporations that have to be concerned about their stockholders and dividends and growth. The only people we have to be concerned about are ourselves."

Have you had many odd funeral requests?

"We had a family set up motorcycles (in the chapel). We've had old cars out on the parking lot. We've had firemen transported on the back of a fire truck."

Have you turned down any that were too odd?

"Many years ago we had a family want to take over the facility. They literally wanted us to take all of the caskets out of the selection room and use it as a big party room and have a party in association with the funeral.... They pulled out a wad of money and started counting out hundred-dollar bills. I said 'Sorry, it's not a matter of money. We have other families that we have to take care of.' "