Now he's trying to bring the same recognition to other deserving community members.

The Nhill local has been volunteering for the vast majority of his life, but he was surprised when he was singled out for a VSOYA in 2019.

"I suppose it's just one of those things that most people do. It seems a bit amazing to me that somebody picked me up for an award," Mr Deckert said.

Mr Deckert was put forward for the award by the Wimmera Centre for Participation.

While he was grateful for the recognition, Mr Deckert believes that many others in the community are just as deserving.

"It was all very nice, but there's lots of other people around that does the same sort of thing and they've done it all their lives. They just don't talk as much as me!" he said.

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"Even people who you don't think really does anything much. I can remember an instance quite some years ago, this woman passed away. Afterwards it leaked out all of the different things that she used to do around the town that nobody knew about that she'd done. She was a retired nurse and would visit young moms,"

"I wish she could at least experienced a little bit of the glory while she was alive,"

Volunteering was just a part of country life - Mr Deckert is the third generation from his family to become captain of the Winiam and District Rural Fire Brigade.

"I guess I started, um, with the Country Fire Authority because it was just the thing to do in local, rural communities," Mr Deckert said.

"There's a lot of personal satisfaction when you do something that you can see has been an advantage to the community, and I suppose if you're that way inclined when someone asks you to do something, you either say yes or no," he said.

Mr Deckert said part of what he loved about volunteering with the fire brigade was the camaraderie that came with it.

"After you got back in (from a fire), there's sandwiches and coffee, and everybody talks about what happened and you feel you've done quite a fair job," he said.

But the fire brigade was not Mr Deckert's only volunteer work.

"I was 16 when I got involved with the footy club. I could have eaten a footy, I was that keen on football. It was just, just mad, really looking back at it," Mr Deckert recalled.

However, one of the highlights of his career was his time at the Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre.

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"By the time I got around to being involved in that I had basically retired from full-time farm work and it was just something I was interested in," Mr Deckert said.

"I've spent 12 years in that and it's been one of the great experiences of my life," he said.

Mr Deckert has helped the Centre fundraise to purchase three planes and was a driving force behind a fundraising campaign that raised more than $300,000.

"What we've been able to do with the backing of the community. It's a community organization so without the backing of the wider community would never have got off the ground," Mr Deckert said.

Currently, Mr Deckert is part of the group pushing to acquire Nhill's landmark silos.

Nominations for Victorian Senior of the Year are open until Friday, July 9.

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