MANDEVILLE, Manchester — If you’d like to see a modern-day mummy, you can view the body of a woman who died here nearly three decades ago when it lies in repose today at 2:00 pm at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens in Manchester.

The body is currently housed at Lyn’s Funeral Home, where it is an exhibit. The funeral home’s proprietor Calvin Lyn told the Jamaica Observer that it has become a spectacle for many interested in learning about the embalming process.

The body is that of Antoneize McLean, who died at age 75 on September 2, 1997.

“At memorial park, we have the annual blessing of graves and memorial service every last Sunday in November,” Lyn said last Thursday. “Why we will have her there for viewing is that a lot of friends from overseas and locally call from time to time to see her, so we have decided to take her there on Sunday and we have dubbed her the modern mummy. She will be there in repose for folks who come to see her [and] to see the difference [between] a remains embalmed [and] putting it on ice — the refrigeration process,” he said.

The popular businessman, who, along with his mortician wife Sylvia, has operated Lyn’s Funeral Home in Manchester for 50 years, predicted that people will be impressed with the condition of McLean’s body after 27 years.

“I would estimate her at the time of receiving the remains [to be] about 150 pounds. After so long, she has [become] dehydrate; I would say she is about half of that weight now. I know Mrs Lyn is going to have her properly dressed. Even looking at her the other day she still has on her nail polish and her lipstick. She is as hard as the wall,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“Looking at her, you would think that she died just last month,” he said with a broad smile.

“Those who will see her on Sunday will be able to give their own judgement. I am not trying to exaggerate, it is the truth,” added Lyn.

When asked how long does he intend to keep the body before burying or cremating the remains, Lyn’s responded: “Indefinite[ly]”.

“… Because the first 10 years when friends ask us, I said maybe 10 years. First 10 gone, second 10 come and gone, then the third, so maybe 30 [years] or more if we keep her long enough to try and get her into the Guinness [World] Records,” he said.

After residing in the United States, McLean returned to Jamaica and died at the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

Lyn said her grandson, in 1997, had promised to make the funeral arrangements but after three months, McLean’s body still remained at his morgue.

“The remains were sent to us by her grandson who told us he would be responsible for the funeral arrangement, so she was embalmed by Mrs Lyn. When he came to make the arrangement, he told us that his father — the only child for his grandmother — is living overseas but he is unable to come and go back… So he will be sending the money to cover the funeral expense,” said Lyn.

Twenty-seven years later, the remains are still at Lyn’s Funeral Home.

He said people have, over the years, visited the funeral home to see the modern-day mummy in the repose room.

“In 2009, a group of trainee nurses from St Thomas called asking if we would accommodate them, which we did, and they came and they were impressed knowing that [it is] a part of medical training in a sense,” he said.

Lyn believes the story has educational value.

“[For] those who would want to go further to do pathology, among other things. For us, we see it from an educational aspect whereby it would teach us the difference in embalming the remains versus being on the fridge,” he said.

He also acknowledged that some people might be afraid, but said no one is being compelled to view the body.

“Is like some people go to the regular funeral service now [and say,] ‘I am not going to view the body’, so they would take a different view,” he added.