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Year Born: 1925 Year Died: 2008Alferd William Wing, 82 of Caldwell, passed away Wednesday, June 18, 2008, at West Valley Medical Center of natural causes. Al was born Oct. 8, 1925, at Caldwell, the only child of Frank and Willie Lee Arnold Wing. He was reared on a farm on Sunny Slope and educated in Caldwell, graduating from Caldwell High School in 1943. Al farmed two family homesteads with his dad and worked for Crookham’s after high school. He was introduced to Bethel Pettis by mutual friends in 1949 and they were joined in a lifelong marriage on Oct. 8, 1950. Two daughters, Marcia and Sheryl, were born of this union. Al began his career in law enforcement with the Caldwell Police Department as a patrol officer in 1957, working his way through the ranks until he retired as captain in 1985. Never one to be caught up in the politics of the job, he most enjoyed serving the public, especially his many years as a detective. He became proficient in the darkroom, developing the department’s crime and accident scene photos for many years. Al also became a fingerprint expert, participating as one of only 20 officers from across the US invited to attend the FBI Academy in a pilot program geared toward enhancing the skills of local law enforcement agencies in the late 1960s. During his second stint at the Academy he wrote a paper that was used as a fingerprint training tool in many subsequent classes. Following his retirement from the Department he worked part-time at First Security Bank in its security operations until 1998. Outside of work, Al had two passions: trapshooting and the Odd Fellows Lodge. He began shooting with a friend in 1946 and won his first trophy in 1951. During the early years of his marriage and raising a family he didn’t have time to shoot often – but as his girls grew older Al got serious about the sport. It took him nearly 40 years to hit his first 50,000 targets by 1988, but only ten years to reach 100,000 targets in 1998. He was only the second shooter in Idaho to reach that milestone, and was inducted into the Idaho Trapshooting Hall of Fame that same year. In 1993, at the age of 68, Al suffered a detached retina during a shoot and was told his shooting career was ended unless he learned to shoot right-handed. This was no small feat for a life-long lefty, but with typical determination he was back shooting 200 straight targets at the Lewiston meet three years later. In addition to shooting, Al was an active member of the Marsing and Caldwell Gun Clubs, serving on the Caldwell Board for 16 years and as its president for four. His other passion was the Odd Fellows Lodge where he was a member of IOOF Lodge #10 since 1948. He served the Caldwell Lodge in nearly every capacity including Noble Grand, and has been a Trustee of the Lodge for many years. He was the Caldwell Representative at the State Grand Lodge a number of times and had reached the position of Deputy Grand Master before stepping down for health reasons. At the time of his death, Al was serving as Caldwell’s chaplain. Al was preceded in death by Bethel, his wife of 57 years, in November, 2007. He is survived by daughters Marcia Wing (Gregory Garlick) and Sheryl Wing, and by his “adopted” daughters, Kristine Rickenbach and Teresa Rickenbach, all of Boise. The family would like to thank the staff at West Valley for their caring and kindness during Al’s last days. |