Violet Wing

Violet Wing

Violet Wing, 83, died Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at the Northern Montana Hospital of pneumonia. Wake services will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, 2013, at the Chief Nosey Recreational Center in Lodge Pole and will continue until her funeral service at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 8, 2013, at the Chief Nosey Recreational Center. Her burial will take place at a later date in the Wing Family Cemetery in Lodge Pole. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements.

Violet was born on Nov. 8, 1929, to Olivia Healy and Thomas Cliff, and raised in Lodge Pole, Mont., one of 10 children.

She attended the Lodge Pole Grade School and graduated high school from Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota. She married Kenneth "Half Bear" Wing in 1950, and together they had 11 children. They divorced in 1968, and she moved to Great Falls, Mont., where she lived for 30 years.

She worked for many years as a housekeeper at numerous motels and hotels. In 1983, she attended the Great Falls Vo-Tech and earned her certified nursing attendant certification. She then worked at the Cascade County Nursing Home and the Downtowner Assisted Living Center. She retired in 1996 and moved back to Fort Belknap. She enjoyed reading, doing puzzles and spending time with her family. She loved her home and always kept it in immaculate shape.

Violet is preceded in death by her former husband, Kenneth "Half Bear" Wing; her sons, Robert "Beeneferd" Wing, Ronald Wing and David Wing; her grandsons, Derek Dillon and Kalyle Wells; her granddaughters, Lannelle and Dannelle Wing and Anna Lee Wing; her parents, Olivia Healy and Thomas Cliff; her brothers, Charles (Chap) Long Fox, Henry "Jody" Cliff and Gilbert "Machine" Cliff; her sisters, Cora Crabtree, Leona (Clocky) Messerly, Caroline (Babe) Sullivan and Christine Main.

Violet is survived by her children, Kenneth (Mona) Wing Jr., Randy (Pat) Wing, Steve (Irene) Wing, Brian (Eva) Wing, Clyde (Hannah) Wing, Kathleen Wing (Ted Bell) and Jackie Wing (Delmar Walker), all of Lodge Pole, Mont., and Charles (Cecelia) Wing of Warm Springs, Ore.; 24 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; her brother, Albert Cliff of Benton City, Wash.; and her sister, Virginia (Rusty) Campbell.