POET and author Dr Don Mattera’s final wishes have been granted.
The Don Mattera Legacy Foundation spokesman, Elvis Preslin, said the 87-year-old died on Monday, 18 July and wanted to be buried at Westpark Cemetery.
Mattera died of natural causes and was buried a few hours later, as per Muslim tradition.
“A few months ago, Don’s family and the foundation came together to discuss what would happen when he passed away. There was a protocol on how we would do things,” said Preslin.
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“At the time, the agreement was to bury him close to home in Lenasia. So when he passed, we already had a plan. But as we were planning the funeral, one of the family members brought up that Don wanted to be buried at Westpark Cemetery. He wanted to be close to Sophiatown.”
Preslin said Mattera died peacefully at his home.
“Yes, he was ailing and he suffered from a lot of medical conditions, which we can’t go into,” he said.
“A few minutes before he died at about 1pm, he was with his ex-wife and he called her to sit on the bed with him. She said she couldn’t as she had to prepare lunch. As she was looking back, she saw he was just fading away.” Mattera was recently honoured with a star for his work by Joburg Theatre at their 60th birthday celebration.
