Val Powell's late husband Ross and her son Andy loved helping people.
The two popular and highly experienced Port Campbell lifesavers died while trying to rescue a tourist washed out to sea near the mouth of the Sherbrook River, close to the Twelve Apostles.
On Easter Sunday in April 2019, the men's 6-metre rescue boat capsized in heavy surf conditions. The crew of three was thrown into the water.
Ross "Po" Powell, 71, and his son Andy, 32, died.
They were the first lifesavers to die while performing a rescue in Victoria.
The third member of the volunteer crew, Phil "Fuzz" Younis, sustained serious injuries.
An emergency helicopter eventually winched him, and the tourist caught in the rip, to safety.
"People used to say to me, 'Am I angry about it?'" Val recalled.
"You can't be angry about someone that your husband's going out to rescue because they do it all the time, it's just part of their job, that's what they did."
Volunteerism part of DNA
Ross and Andy ran the family's dairy farm just outside Port Campbell. Ross was about to hand over the reins to Andy.
Val described the two as best mates.
"Sometimes I thought if Ross died, I don't know how Andy would have coped," Val said. "I don't know if Andy died how Ross would have coped because they were like peas in a pod."
Both men were dedicated members of their fire brigade and the local unit of the State Emergency Service (SES).
That's not unusual for folk in the small town of Port Campbell on south-west Victoria's Shipwreck Coast. Volunteering seems to be in their DNA.
Generations of family members can be found patrolling the beach or crewing fire trucks.
Ross's father had been a volunteer in the local fire brigade and a member of the original Cliff Squad Rescue team when it began in the 1960s.
Youngest son Andy, one of five, followed in the family footsteps.
Years of unwavering commitment
Ross Powell's first and last rescue missions were at Sherbrook River.
When he was just 18, the lifesaver was called out to an emergency on the 12-kilometre-long river, just shy of the ocean.
He dragged a woman from the water and performed CPR. Tragically, she didn't survive.
Ross went on to receive a Royal Humane Society Bravery Award for his role in another Easter Sunday rescue in the area in 1980.
Then almost 40 years later, when he was alerted to the emergency call on Easter Sunday 2019, Ross and Val were preparing to host the first big gathering in their new home across the road from the Port Campbell Lifesaving Club.
It was a momentous occasion with Andy to become a father for the first time later in the year.
"I said, 'Ross please don't go' because I needed him to help me here," Val recalled of her husband of 44 years.
"That's what Ross did, he just volunteered anywhere he could," Val said.
'I had to share them'
In memory of the two men, the Port Campbell Life Saving Club received funding from the state government to expand the deck of the clubhouse.
Club president Scott McKenzie said it would be named in honour of "two of their finest".
Their names are also included in the Victorian Emergency Services Memorial at the Treasury Gardens in Melbourne.
To ensure Ross and Andy's legacy lives on, the Powell family and the dairy industry have started a foundation to recognise and reward young local volunteers.
"I am so, so proud … I loved them so much, but I wish I didn't have to share them, but I did, I had to share them," Val said.
To learn more about Ross and Andy Powell, and other heroic people of Port Campbell, Victoria, watch Back Roads on ABC TV on Mondays at 8pm or any time on ABC iview.
