Tribute to Wing Ng

Long time HTMC member Wing Ng passed away on July 11, 2026 when he was 79. Wing joined HTMC in July 1982, and because Wing was a meticulous record keeper, he noted that his “first [trail] clearing with the club was January 15, 1984, the one involving [the] “wrong ridge” and [the] “big tree” (he’s referring to the hike route the club has called Pu’u o Kona).  

I met Wing in the mid 1990s via the internet, by way of a usenet newsgroup soc.culture.hawaii (SCH), where we were both regular contributors (the late Nate Yuen was also a regular contributor and even served as a moderator for SCH).  It was through SCH that I learned of Wing’s hiking activities, including those with HTMC. After Wing read some of my posts about hikes I’d done, he invited me to check out the club,  and I took him up on his invitation. I joined him on a trail clearing outing of Tripler Ridge.  In short, I loved it, and I became a regular on the club’s TM (Trail Maintenance interchangeable with Trail Clearing) crew.

Wing, however, was summarily dismissed from the TM crew because of his penchant for indiscriminate cutting of flora along a trail.  His philosophy was that any vegetation encroaching on a trail was fair game for his machete or loppers.  Mabel Kekina, our TM leader at the time, had a different view, with native flora, maybe save uluhe, being sacred and “unchoppable.” Or as Charlotte Yamane would say, “No chop da buggah!”  

Even given his absence from trail clearing with the club, he and I still hiked a lot together, often with others– Pat Rorie, Ed Gilman, Steve Poor, Scott Villiger, Jay Feldman, and Dave Webb being among them.  And we hiked just about everywhere in the Koolaus and the Waianaes. No trail?  No problem.  Wing loved to explore, and he often found willing companions.  

Many of Wing’s hikes were done alone and required great effort.In a tribute, past HTMC president Jay Feldman wrote of  Wing’s “almost solitary efforts to reopen OC (Olympus Castle)… to reconnect Wa’ahila and Manoa Middle and make a great loop hike out of it.”   

Sometimes by himself and sometimes with others, Wing also did a lot of exploratory hiking and trail finding in East Honolulu, including Waialae Nui, Kalani Ridge, Wailupe (which he preferred to call Aina Haina), Kuliouou, Hahaione, and Kamilonui.  It was because of Wing’s many explorations that we scouted out and I led a club hike we called the East Honolulu Rollercoaster, which started in the gulch (Waialae Nui) mauka of Kahala Mall and ended at the Hahaione trailhead in Hawaii Kai.    

Wing, who was born in Hong Kong, was, unbeknownst to many—including some who viewed him as ditzy—highly educated. He held a BS and MS degrees in physics from Yale, a doctoral degree in physics from New York University, and MBA and JD (law) degrees from the University of Hawai?i. Wing had a short stint as a college instructor, but didn’t enjoy teaching, so he moved to Hawai?i, where he opened his own firm as a CPA and attorney. His accounting expertise led to his appointment as the HTMC’s auditor for a number of years.

A lifelong bachelor, Wing surprised us in 2010 by introducing my wife Jackie and I to June Leung, who he had married that year.  I was happy for my friend, as he now had a companion, and he and his wife were dinner guests at our home on several occasions.

To those of us who knew him, memorable were his maroon Mustang with its distinctive DEMCHNA (abbreviation of Democratic China) license plates; his interesting hiking terminology including “honest trails” (i.e. trails that only went up), rockface “weaknesses” (climbable sections) that could be “surmonted”; his love of posthike “sumptuous meals”; and his lost possessions, including his wallet (2x), his machete (3x?), among others.

On August 22nd, a few of us, including club members, my wife Jackie, and Wing’s wife June, gathered at a spot on the Wailupe (Aina Haina) Trail to celebrate the life of our friend. Aina Haina was a favorite place for Wing, and many happy memories of hiking with him were shared.  

To our friend, Wing, aloha, excelsior, and rest in peace.

Dayle Kalama Turner

Photo: Wing Ng and wife June, Pu’u Ma’eli’eli trail, circa 2010 taken by Jacqueline Turner