Hundreds turned out to farewell the former convenor of the Hobsons Bay Residents Association, Colin Palmer, at Altona Memorial Park on Friday.
Mr Palmer died on March 13, aged 60, after a short battle with cancer.
For the past 14 years, he had worked as a community advocate and was influential in the election of several Hobsons Bay councillors.
Mr Palmer worked on campaigns such as saving Paisley Park in Altona North and fighting a toxic soil facility in Altona, and was known for his catchphrase: “A better way for Hobsons Bay.”
Mourners were told of an eighth- century Irish poem about heaven.
“It speaks about heaven as a great lake of beer, with the people of heaven gathered around the lake, dancing and singing and drinking happily for all eternity,” Sister Mary Wickham said.
“I think Colin could relate to that concept, the party by the lake of beer.”
The gathering heard how Mr Palmer had endured a childhood of “abject neglect” but “forged a life that had meaning and dignity”.
He met his wife Anne in 1973 when they were teenagers, and they married in 1984. She said: “Colin was born a pauper and died a king.”
