Wen Painter was a pilot and engineer devoted to community service on the ground and in the air. He served for decades as a NACA and NASA Dryden engineer on projects including the Northrop HL-10 lifting body, which helped develop the Space Shuttle. After retiring from NASA, he joined the staff of the National Test Pilot School at the Mojave Air & Spaceport, where he trained pilots at Mojave and around the world. During his flying career, he earned multi-engine commercial pilot and flight instructor ratings, trained more than 100 pilots, and taught Aeronautical Engineering at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo. He also volunteered to promote aviation by introducing youngsters to flying through the Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles program and as a founding board member of the Mojave Transportation Museum Foundation. Like many American astronauts and aviation pioneers, he began his education in a one-room schoolhouse in the American Mid-West, and he served in the USAF from 1953 to 1957.