St. Ambrose Remembers A Generous Benefactor

My good friend, Bing Poon spent a lifetime helping others with a passion for life and the sport of skiing. Bing died while skiing at Killington, Vermont on December 14, 2009. I had known Bing for several years. He had been a member of PSIA-E, since 1977, as well as a member of ASIA and the National Ski Patrol. Bing achieved Associate Certification (Level II) in 1984. A member of Whitetail Resort's Snow Sports School since 1995, the Richmond Ski Club, since 1961 and the Potomac Valley Skiers, since 1974, where he attended many trips with his ski buddies all over the country.

Bing was born in San Francisco in 1924, and moved to Keokuk, Iowa, as a child. During World War II, he volunteered for the Army Enlisted Reserve Corps and ended the war with the Fighting 69th Division, the first Army unit to meet up with the Russians on the Elbe River in Germany. During the war he was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge, a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star for Heroic Achievement and another Bronze Star First Oak Leaf Cluster. He never missed a reunion or a trip with his army friends and was on the Board of Directors for the 69th Infantry Division Organization. Whenever Bing was around me he would discuss with me the exploits of the 10th Mountain Division, of which my father, Lt. Richard N. Jackson, Jr. was a member of an engineering regiment.

Bing started his college years before World War II attending St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa. He then completed his University Studies after WWII at the University of California and then earned a Masters and a PHD at the University of Colorado in 1951.

Bing had a 35-year career with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. At Walter Reed he was part of a team that developed antiparasitic drugs for the military. Bing co-authored many papers on his work at Walter Reed. He was still a regular visitor to Walter Reed well after his retirement, always checking in on wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, or attending a conference.

Bing was a well known in the town of Mercersburg, PA. He was a regular at the Mercersburg Inn, VFW and a parishioner of St. Luke Catholic Church. A frequent visitor of the Senior Center, he wore out the treadmill (several times) to stay in shape for skiing. He would also research the subjects of guest speakers, so he could challenge them when they visited.

We will miss Bing, his silly jokes, his constant smile through his wire-rimmed glasses, his passion for skiing, and achieving Level III. I am hoping that when God calls me home that I go as Bing went, a smile on my face over a snow covered bump with my boots and skis on.

I sent a gold PSIA Level III pin with Bing, with the inscription "To Bing, From PSIA-E, for his final ski trip."

Mac Jackson, Sugarbush, VT