Father of invention
Pomona museum exhibits portion of Claremont man's contraptions
By Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/05/2007 12:00:00 AM PST


Dr. Tom Wing, 91, talks about his life and some of his inventions in his Claremont home.
(Marc Campos/Staff Photographer) CLAREMONT - Behind a heavy ornate door to Dr. Tom Wing's home is a treasure trove of antiques worthy of a chinoiserie collector's attention.
On guard near a waving American flag are several replicas of terra cotta soldiers, the army of statues buried in northern China. Near an oversized fireplace built by Wing is a decorative armor from Manchuria. A copper sword, now revealing a bright teal sheen, hangs overhead.

The walls and cluttered shelves seem bare, however, without signs of recognition for the scores of inventions and contributions that the Chinese-American doctor has made for this country. No framed proclamations, no posed photographs with smiling politicians.

Wing, 91, a retired chiropractor and Chinese medicine practitioner, is a bona fide renaissance man. His work runs the gamut - from working with the military to establish a ultra high frequency communication station to inventing microcurrent technologies that benefited athletes like Joe Montana and Carl Lewis. Some of his contributions made lives more convenient, others saved them.

A selection of his inventions will become part of a permanent exhibition at the Pomona Ebell Museum this month. Wing will also speak about his inventions and


experiences living and working in the Inland Valley on March 25 at a dinner organized by the museum.
Narcissism is nearly absent in this Lodi-born inventor. That may explain why Wing's home has nary a reminder of his success.

Wing's daughter Carolyn Wing Greenlee, 60, said her father was so focused on creating technologies to help people that he never paused to seek credit.

"The reason my dad is not concentrating on his fame is that he didn't get it. But he never sat around saying, `Nobody recognized me so forget them,"' she said.

Wing and his wife, Kay Wing, a Chinese-American born in Merced, moved to Claremont in 1950 despite the blatant racial discrimination that threatened to keep them away.

Wing was already a successful Chinese medicine practitioner in Los Angeles, and his reputation for treating diabetes allowed him to open a branch office on Holt Avenue in Pomona. He remembered drawing on a napkin the floor plans for his office that was easily approved. The office near Reservoir Avenue, with its "Dr. Wing Chinese Herbs" neon sign, eventually closed in the late 1980s.

But setting up residence in a suburb proved to be much more troublesome. Objection quickly flared when the Wing family attempted to move to Baldwin Hills.

"As soon as they saw us in our new Buick, 500 people signed a petition that said, `Don't sell to a minority,"' remembered Wing.

That attitude was mirrored in the Inland Valley where a Pomona real estate agent hiked prices to an exorbitant sum, and Claremont neighbors started a similar racist petition. But a sympathetic friend, a white real estate agent, found an available lot where Wing built his home and has lived in for the last 57 years.

The Wings called the hills just north of their home "snob hill."

For the most part, Wing said his family was treated well, although they were never invited to social engagements.

"I told Kay, `I'm your best friend, all you need is me,"' said Wing.

Kay Wing died in 2004 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

These days, Wing is slowed down by age, but his eyes still sparkle with ideas, and his presence is formidable. He keeps busy whether it's fixing his car or organizing his muscle therapy machines for the upcoming exhibit.

Inside his work space, Wing recently held up a boxy cosmetology machine and looked into its dials.

"This one was used by Princess Diana ... for face lifting," he said.

Wing explained that the instrument used microcurrents to stimulate the muscles and keep them from sagging.

Standing amid a small row of contraptions, it's hard to tell whether Wing's inventions are a product of his genius or a clever answer to discrimination.

Growing up in the Central Valley, the only job Wing could find as a Chinese-American farm boy was hauling manure. So at the age of 17, he designed a truck that could carry more than three times the load of a typical vehicle to increase his profits.

Wing was also a well-known radio ham, and at the dawn of the Korean War he raised awareness of using ultra high frequencies. He was instrumental in developing a network that spread from Santa Barbara to the Mexico border. The emergency radio control station was given to the American Red Cross.

In 2000, the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles wrote a letter of appreciation to Wing, describing how his contribution helped the nation's military communication abilities in the pre-satellite era and also aided relief efforts in disasters such as the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Copies of that letter, a modest reminder of his services, are tucked among other paperwork on Wing's desk.

The list of Wing's patents for all his creations is a long one. But from the neon sign he built at the age of 13 to the radio paging system that Motorola eventually relied on, there is one invention that Wing holds very dear - a chair lift made for the love of his life.

The chair, now housed in Modesto's McHenry Museum, was designed to help Wing move his wife in her last years.

"I am the most proud of taking care of my wife," said Wing.

Kay Wing, whose smiling photographs adorn his walls, was a true partner to the doctor. Between his medical office and multiple business operations, Kay Wing was doing bookkeeping, hiring staff and keeping clients happy.

"I dreamed the thing but she was the one who turned it into reality," said Wing, about all his inventions. "All the things I developed ... and why we're in the museum - it's because of her."

Wing said his chair allowed his wife to spend her final years at home and, because of that, he is proud.

"My father became a more beautiful person since taking care of mom," Greenlee said. "She became all of his inventions."

Staff writer Wendy Leung can be reached by e-mail at wendy.leung@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909)