Watch: ‘We Didn’t Want To Bury Him’: Jake Vella’s Parents Open Up On Cremation Choice
Jake Vella’s parents opened up about their choice to cremate their son who recently passed away after battling an extremely rare medical condition for years.
In an emotional interview this week on ONE TV’s Bil-Fatti, Josie and Mariska Vella said they had known for a while that they wanted to cremate him when the time came.
“I told Mariska that if I die before Jake, when his time comes, don’t bury him but take him home with you,” Josie said.
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“Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t pleasant to watch him entering a crematorium either but we didn’t want to see him buried in a tomb. We all have our own opinions.”
“He is at home with us although obviously it isn’t the same. People tell you ‘Oh, he’s at home with you now’ but it’s a massive difference – one moment he is there speaking to us and now he inside an urn. I want him on the chair talking to us as he used to.”
Mariska added that both she and her husband viewed burial as too “ugly”.
Although Malta legalised cremation five years ago, the country still doesn’t have a crematorium, which meant that Josie and Maruska had to fly to Sicily to cremate their son.
However, funeral director Johann Camilleri, recently said that his company, Active Group Limited plans to open Malta’s first crematorium near the Addolorata Cemetery within the next two years.
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