Joan L. Wing

Joan Loring Wing, local Rutland attorney, wife of Alvin B. Figiel and mother of Mark Kevin Foley Jr. and Megan Smith Foley, died on 8 December 2009 as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

Ms. Wing was born on August 26, 1948, the first of nine children of Leonard F. Wing Jr. and Mary Costello Wing. She was raised in Rutland and educated at Mount St. Joseph Academy, Castleton State College and Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y.

After employment in various capacities at the old Carriage Room restaurant, the Fairmont Restaurant and as manager of the Brookside Tennis Club, she decided to study law and became associated with the firm of Ryan Smith & Carbine Ltd., a firm her grandfather had established as Fenton, Wing & Morse. She studied under the sponsorship and tutelage of R. Clarke Smith, Esq., Harold P. Berger, Esq., and R. Joseph O'Rourke, Esq. She practiced law with Ryan Smith & Carbine until 1997 when she established her own practice.

After her admission to the Bar, Wing became active in the Bar Association and other professional organizations. She was a member of the Vermont Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, as a board member and as its chair. She was elected to and a member of the Board of Managers of the Vermont Bar Association from 1987–1998 and served as the Bar president in the years 1996 and 1997. She followed both her grandfather and her father in that office, one of fewer than five families in the United States to have three generations serve as president of their Bar associations. She was twice honored by the Bar Association with the President's Award for outstanding service to the Bar. In 2009, Attorney Wing was elected as a Bar Association representative to the Federal Judicial Nominating Advisory Committee.

Ms. Wing was a member of the Rutland County Bar Association and a member of the New England Bar Association where she served on the board of directors from 1991–1994 and as its president in 1993-1994. She was a past member of the American Bar Association and served two terms as the Vermont Bar Association representative to the American Bar Association House of Delegates. She also served on the board of the Vermont Bar Foundation.

She was a member of the Sterry R. Waterman Inns of Court, served on its governing counsel and as its president. She was also on the counsel of the organization Lawyers Concerned For Lawyers.

Ms. Wing had a quick wit and was frequently sought out to emcee statewide judicial retirement parties and, with her entertainment partner, Karl C. Anderson, had written and presented the entertainment portion of the annual Rutland County Bar meeting for over 10 years.

In 1998, the Vermont Supreme Court appointed Attorney Wing to the then Professional Conduct Board, later the Professional Responsibility Board where she served as a board member, vice-chair and longtime chair until 2007. In July of 2004, Gov. James Douglas appointed Wing to the Commission on Wind Energy Regulatory Policy which took testimony and presented the governor with a comprehensive report.

Ms. Wing served on the Board of Directors of the Rutland County Court Diversion Program from 1987–1995 and as its president from 1989–1995. During this time period, the Rutland County Court Diversion Program established Vermont's first juvenile sex offender program and treatment program and Vermont's first domestic violence offender program. She was also one of the organizers of the Rutland County Small Claims Mediation project in 1990, a project which used lawyers as "acting judges" in the Rutland County Small Claims Court, and, coupled with a mediation program for litigants, allowed the Court to schedule its time for criminal proceedings in District Court. Joan gave longtime service as a police commissioner for the city of Rutland acting as that commission's vice-chair and chair.

Ms. Wing also was a member of the Rutland Area Retarded Citizens Association, now ARC, and was a board member from 1983–1990 and its president in 1989 and 1990.

Ms. Wing was a member of Christ the King Parish and served on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Catholic Charities Inc.

Ms. Wing was active in Vermont Republican politics and served on various local and state campaigns and committees.

In addition to her husband and children, Ms. Wing is survived by three grandchildren, Jack Henry Foley, Abigail Margaret Foley and John Christopher Foley, all of Rutland. She is survived by her mother, Mary Costello Wing; by four sisters, Mary Jane Wing Soares of Londonderry, N.H., Ann Kidder Wing Lee of Casper, Wyo., Patricia Wing Bartenstein and Katrina Wing Clark, both of Rutland. She is also survived by four brothers, Leonard F. Wing III of Rutland Town, Christopher Wing of Durango, Colo., Timothy D. Wing of North Reading, Mass., John B. Wing of Rutland; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her father; her nephew, Baxter Clark; and niece and Goddaughter, Evelyn K. Bartenstein.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in Christ the King Church.

Friends may call at the Clifford Funeral Home on Friday from 3 to 7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, Ms. Wing has requested that contributions be made to Evelyn's Fund, a scholarship program for disadvantaged children, 22 Deer St., Rutland, VT.

View the guest book at www.rutlandherald.com/ obits. YES