Mervyn Douglass Roxburgh, aged 70, died last Thursday after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis, known to some as builder's lung.

Spending his entire life within the Lexton and Beaufort community, Mervyn's brother John spoke about the close relationship he and his sibling shared from an early age.

"We did everything together when we were kids, that's just how things were," he said.

"We were very close as kids, just doing the normal things you do in those days: fishing, rabbiting, footy and cricket. He would drive down into a rabbit burrow and get them out of there, that was always pretty interesting," he laughed.

The duo also shared the football field together, playing for the Lexton Football Club seniors under coach Howard 'Plugger' Lockett, father of Tony Lockett.

John openly admitted his brother had the greater skill on the football field out of the two.

"We started off at the Lexton Football Club... Mervyn probably played his first senior game when he was around 16," he continued.

"Mervyn was always a standout on the footy field, he polled well in a few Henderson Medal counts. He coached Beaufort before he retired playing and even trained with a few VFL sides."

Entering his professional life, Mervyn became a builder, running his own business in Beaufort, as well as joining the local CFA.

Former Beaufort CFA captain David Gerrard told The Courier about the impact Mervyn had within the CFA, as well as in the greater community.

"We both joined the CFA on pretty much the same day," Mr Gerrard said.

"Merv just made things so easy, he was a fellow that you could really rely on. If he said he was going to do something, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. That's all you can ask of a man."

He continued, touching on Mervyn's love for his family, and the hole left within the Beaufort community due to his death.

"His family meant the world to him. He always made the time to travel to catch up with family," he continued.

"There's a big hole in Beaufort now that he's gone. A few of us spoke the other night at the fire brigade, everybody realised how much they were going to miss Merv. "

Mervyn worked closely with a number of community clubs, such as the Beaufort Tennis Club and the local Scout group and the Goldfields recreation reserve.

In recent years, golf became his passion, which he enjoyed with his wife Sharron.

Outside of the region, he participated in the annual Victorian Variety Bash to raise money for children.

Mervyn, along with some of his friends 'The Beaufort Four', participated for 21 consecutive years and is a member of the Variety Bash Hall of Fame, having raised $190,000 over the 21 years.

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