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MARSHALLTOWN (AP) — “It’s a transparent portrayal of what our business has done since Iowa has been a state.”

These are the words of Marty Mitchell, who recently established the Iowa Funeral Home Museum and Education Center — the first and only facility of its kind in Iowa.

Mitchell began his full-time career as a mortician back in 1987, when he was employed at the former Estel-Perrin Funeral Home. He owns and operates Mitchell Family Funeral. In December 2016, he purchased a Casey’s General Store (which had closed down when a new one opened nearby) on adjoining property, with the intention of using the building to expand his business.

“The first intention was to use the building as an eating area for our clients,” Mitchell told The Times-Republican.

But upon further evaluation, he decided to use the space to showcase his sizable collection of mortuary artifacts. Over the course of about six months, massive renovating transformed the Casey’s into a mortuary museum.