Friends and neighbours rallied around John Travolta and Kelly Preston today as the grieving actors prepared to say a final farewell to their son Jett.

Members of the local community placed flowers and messages of support outside the entrance to the family’s exclusive estate in Ocala, Florida, offering prayers and lighting candles for the 16-year-old boy who they described as “a very loving kid”.

“They do so much for our community that we should give back to them in their time of sorrow,” said local resident Maureen Armes, who laid red carnations and a banner reading: “Our prayers are with you.”

Meanwhile inside, Travolta, 54, was planning a small, private memorial service to be held in the grounds of the rural mansion tomorrow.

Shunning the prospect of a mass celebrity turn-out, the pair have invited family and close friends only and planned a simple Scientology ceremony in the grounds of their home, where Jett and his sister Ella Blue, eight, grew up away from the glare of publicity.

Flower shops in the town reported being inundated with orders from around the world for the couple, who count fellow Scientologists Tom Cruise and Lisa Marie Presley among their friends.

Despite their Hollywood credentials and luxury lifestyle, the Travoltas endeared themselves to the people of Ocala with their charity work and down-to-earth friendliness.

The family blended in like any other said Ocala’s mayor Randy Ewers - shopping at the local supermarket and mall, working out at the gym, dining in the town’s restaurants and hosting charity fundraising events at the local cinema.

“They’re fantastic people, really family oriented,” said Mr Ewers.

Locals told how Jett, who died last Friday after suffering a seizure at the family’s holiday home in the Bahamas, was often to be seen riding around their gated community in Ocala on a tricycle, or driven by his father in a golf cart or Thunderbird classic car.

“John and Kelly just want to be treated as another family,” Rich Koepsel, who lives next door to them in Ocala, Florida, told the local newspaper, recalling how Jett would run up to kiss his wife Heidi whenever they met.

“You could see the love in his parents’ eyes. You could look in Jett’s eyes and feel the love there. He was just a fun-loving, great kid. We loved him that much,” Mr Koepsel added.

Their pool home, situated in the Jumbolair Aviation Estates development, is an hour’s drive from Clearwater, where the Church of Scientology has its spiritual headquarters. It is expected that a minister from the Church of Scientology will attend the service.

Meanwhile Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, defended the couple against critics who have questioned whether their Scientology faith played a role in the management of Jett’s medical condition and had a bearing on his death.

“As popular as it has been to discriminate and ridicule Scientology and Scientologists in the recent past, now is NOT the time,” Ms Presley wrote on her internet blog.

“Whatever medical and/or physical condition Jett had, I can tell you first hand that his parents were on a tireless, never ending quest to get and provide him with the absolute best care anyone could ever ask for and need.

“I am not writing this to preach my beliefs, I am here to protect my friends… John and Kelly have done nothing but spend their lives and their time helping others, making people happy and making peoples’ lives better. Please let this family grieve in peace.”

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