Wayne G. Chamberlain passed away in his sleep at home in Missoula, Mont., on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Wayne was born in Kemmerer on April 23, 1920. He left Kemmerer in 1940 to attend an aircraft trade school in Los Angeles, Calif. Although he lived most of his 89 years away from Wyoming, he always perceived himself as being “from Wyoming.”

In 1941, his high school sweetheart, Louise Lively, joined him, and they began a 66-year marriage. Louise passed away at the end of 2007, and he dearly missed her.

In 1942, Wayne joined the Army Air Corps. He served as a flight engineer instructor based in Hawaii. At the end of the war, he returned to California with his young wife and a new daughter and began a career with North American Aviation. He worked with experimental jets and became an engineer, moving into the X-15, Mercury, Apollo and B-1 Bomber projects.

Wayne was one of those faceless guys with flat-top haircuts, short-sleeve white shirts, ties, a pocket protector and his trusty slide-rule. These incredible men and women sent men to the moon and back using slide-rules.

Wayne retired as a senior design engineer. He had a strong work ethic, taking only five sick days in 45 years.

As a child, he learned to love hunting, fishing and baseball. Some years later, his attention turned to golf. He was legally blind, hard of hearing, could barely get around with a walker and yet some of his last conversations were about getting fishing gear ready for spring.

Wayne and Louise moved to Missoula in 2005 to be near their son after Louise’s health began to decline. Wayne is survived by his three children: Charlotte Bowen of Anderson, Calif., Wayne Chamberlain of Missoula and Cathleen Fox of Fresno, Calif. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

At the end of the day, he lived a long and productive life. He and his wife’s absence will be felt for a long time to come.

Graveside services were held Feb. 19 at Sunset Memorial Cemetery and were officiated over by Bishop Jason Worman of the Missoula 4th Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.