George Painter, 86, of Harrisonburg, passed away on Sunday, March 24, 2024, at Harrisonburg Health and Rehabilitation Center in Harrisonburg, VA.

Mr. Painter was born on March 31, 1937, in Elkton, VA, and was a son of the late Raymond Lee Painter and Marie Pauline Monger Lawson.

After graduating high school, George completed the four-year machinist Apprentice School of The Newport News Shipyard and Dry Dock Company in 1961. George then returned to the valley and settled in Dale Enterprise working for heating and refrigeration equipment manufacturer Dunham-Bush, Inc. in Harrisonburg as a machinist in the research and development lab, where he worked for more than thirty years until the company began shuttering the plant in 1999. He later worked for Suter Machine and Tool until retirement.

Having grown up on a farm in Elkton, a lifelong do-it-yourself-er and tinkerer, George enjoyed auctions, gardening, home repair, and the challenge of restoring machine tools, garden tractors, and vehicles, in particular a yellow 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan he had bought after high school but sold, and then subsequently reacquired and restored two decades later. George also repaired and restored Cub Cadet and Wheel-Horse garden tractors as a hobby.

George was a helpful soul and always willing to lend a hand. An active church member, George served many years on the Board of Trustees of Otterbein United Methodist Church helping maintain the church’s mechanical systems, laboring on church workdays, and working the Men’s annual Spaghetti Supper. George also lent his time to Boy Scouts of America Troop 48 once based at the church assisting with Klondike and Pinewood Derbies and helping provide transportation for the scouts to district and council activities.

On August 3, 1963, George married Betty Virginia Long, who survives. In addition to his wife, he is also survived by a son, Tim Painter; two brothers, Mark Painter and wife, Terri, Larry Painter and wife, Patty; and one sister, Shirley Spencer.

Remembered as a joker and for his love of ice cream, he will be missed.