Jay Villemarette
OccupationEntrepreneur
TitleFounder, president and CEO of

Skulls Unlimited International, Inc.

Museum of Osteology &

SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology
SpouseKim Villemarette[1] (m. 1985)
Children4
Websiteskeletonmuseum.com skullsunlimited.com

Jay Villemarette (pronounced ˈvɪləmərɛt) is the owner, founder and president of both Skulls Unlimited International, Inc. and SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology.[2]

Early life

His interest in skulls began in 1972 at 7 years of age, when he found a dog skull in the woods near his house in Levittown, Pennsylvania.[1][3] After encouragement by his father, he began collecting skulls.[3] After moving to Moore, Oklahoma, Villemarette continued collecting skulls.[1] As his interest grew, neighbors and friends began bringing him carcasses of interesting animals that they had found.[1] During this time, he tested many methods of removing the soft tissue from the bones, including burning, acid, and boiling the bones before discovering dermestid beetles.[1] Villemarette graduated from Moore High School before attending Moore-Norman Technology Center in Entrepreneurship.[4] Before founding Skulls Unlimited, he worked as an auto-body mechanic.[2]

Career

Skulls Unlimited International

After finishing high school, Villemarette began cleaning and selling skulls as a side job.[2] After losing his job as an auto-body mechanic, he decided to try selling skulls as a full time occupation.[2] He began by creating a printed list of skulls for sale in 1985.[1] In 1986, Skulls Unlimited was founded as a provider of osteological specimens.[5] Skulls Unlimited International, Inc. is now the premier provider of osteological specimens to nature centers, museums, medical schools, and films.[1] All of Jay's sons still work for Skulls Unlimited International, Inc., as well as his nephew Joey Villemarette.[6]

Skulls Unlimited International, Inc. not only sources their specimens, they still also process the carcasses using the methods Jay perfected in his adolescence.[7] This process begins with removing the majority of the soft tissue from the carcasses by hand.[1] Then two methods are used to detail clean the skulls: dermestid beetles and maceration.[7] After that, skulls are whitened with hydrogen peroxide[8] and articulated by running hardware through the bones.[1][9]

Museum of Osteology

In 2010, Villemarette opened the Museum of Osteology in South Oklahoma City, which holds over 300 skeletons on display.[10] The 7,000 square foot space holds specimens like a 40 foot long humpback whale and the skull of a rare Javan rhinoceros.[8] He developed the museum primarily in hopes of it being utilized as an educational tool.[3] The Museum of Osteology shares its space with Skulls Unlimited International, Inc.'s business office and is adjacent to the processing center.[8]

SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology

After success of the Oklahoma City museum, Villemarette opened a second, larger site in Orlando, Florida in May 2015, this one holding 500 skeletons.[11] The specimens on display include an 11 foot tall African bush elephant and a Sumatran rhinoceros.[11] Villemarette considered other locations for his second museum, including Las Vegas, before deciding on Orlando.[12]

Television appearances

Interest in his business has generated multiple media visits, and Villemarette has appeared in many television shows, including Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.[13]

Television Appearances
Title Year Role Comments
Modern Marvels 2013 Himself Episode: "Strangest Countdown"[13]
Taboo 2012 Himself Episode: "Living with the Dead"[6][13]
Auction Kings 2012 Himself Episode: "Les Paul Guitar/Giant Bat"[13]
Modern Marvels 2011 Himself Episode: "Built by Hand"[13]
Weird, True & Freaky 2010 Himself Episode: "Eternally Stuffed"[13]
Dirty Jobs 2006 Himself Episode: "Skull Cleaner"[7][13]
Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2001 Himself Episode: "Skull Supplier"[13]

Private life

Villemarette met his future wife, Kim Villemarette, when they were in high school.[9] They married in 1985.[1] Together they have 4 children, including three sons: Jay Jr., Josh, and Jaron, and a daughter: Shala.[6] All of Villemarette's sons are involved with the business and all of his children have participated in processing carcasses for the company from a young age.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Urstadt, Bryant (7 January 2006). "I'm Going to Rib-Cage World". Outside Online. Outside. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Life as a skull cleaner is a messy job". Reuters. Reuters. 3 April 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Gray, Aaron Wright. "Villemarette gets the skeletons out of the closet". Norman Transcript. Norman Transcript. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  4. ↑ Aguilar, Anna. "Skeleton museum opens". The Moore American. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  5. ↑ "Where 'how greasy human is' is part of the job". NBC News. NBC. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Living with the Dead". Taboo. Season 9. Episode 9. June 17, 2012. National Geographic. National Geographic.
  7. 1 2 3 ""Skull Cleaner"". Dirty Jobs. Season 2. Episode 13. July 11, 2006. Discovery Channel.
  8. 1 2 3 "Museum of Osteology and Skulls Unlimited". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  9. 1 2 "Pilot". Skeleton, Inc. 2011. Hoff Productions. Netflix.
  10. ↑ Mentesana, Marie. ""The hip bone's connected to the ..." Find out the answer at the Museum of Osteology". Red Dirt Report. Red Dirt Report. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Skeletons: Museum of Osteology". Atlas Obscura. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  12. ↑ Aguilar, Anna. "Oklahomans open skeleton museum in Orlando". Norman Transcript. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Jay Villemarette". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
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