The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
HITTING A MILESTONE
Betty Barnes, oldest living member of the Ice Capades, celebrates 100th birthday at Steele Mansion Inn
“They had a party for me, I didn’t know anything about it until I got there and saw what they had done. ” — Betty Barnes
Concord Township resident Betty Barnes’ household was full of life as family members came from across the country to celebrate as the oldest living member of the Ice Capades turned 100 years old on March 29.
Family and friends threw a surprise party for Barnes to honor the milestone birthday last week at the Steele Mansion Inn & Gathering Hub in Painesville. Barnes’ oldest daughter, Lisa Christensen, said Steele Mansion is home to “Betty’s corner,” a collection of antiques in the front parlor that Barnes has donated.
“They had a party for me, I didn’t know anything about it
Barnes returned home and eventually began teaching ice skating lessons at Euclid’s C. E. Orr Ice Arena
until I got there and saw what they had done. That’s (Steele Mansion) my favorite place in Painesville,” Barnes said.
Barnes is the oldest living member of the Ice Capades, a group of performing figure skaters that was active from 1940 to the early 1990s.
An avid ice skater who grew up near Cleveland, Barnes joined the Ice Capades in 1942 at the age of 21, putting on ice shows all across the U.S. and internationally for the next decade.
Barnes recalled enjoying getting to travel and take in the experiences each city had to offer.
“There were good things about every city,” she said, “They all have something. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there.”
She said it was hard for her to pick a favorite city, but said she remembered Los Angeles always being a lot of fun.
“All the celebrities in town were invited to the show, for free, and they had a press party afterwards,” Barnes recalled, “And they mingled with all the people in the show. It was fun.”
Barnes performed with the Ice Capades until 1953, when she stepped away due to the birth of her second child.
“I had to quit because traveling with two kids and living out of a trunk isn’t the easiest thing to do,” Barnes said.
After leaving the Ice Capades, Barnes returned home and eventually began teaching ice skating lessons at Euclid’s C. E. Orr Ice Arena when it was first built in the late 1950s. Barnes said she taught lessons for the next 21 years.
Barnes noted that while one of her great-granddaughters is interested in ice skating and practices occasionally, it’s much more expensive to get involved in the sport nowadays compared to when she was giving lessons.
“Three dollars for a lesson is no more,” she said.
Back in 2015, Barnes attended an Ice Capades reunion in Las Vegas, where she was able to catch up with old friends and enjoy a rented cabana with her family. However, she said Las Vegas had definitely changed since her shows with the Ice Capades, where the tourist hotspot was only considered a small town.
“I was told that I made the remark one time when somebody asked if the Ice Capades played Las Vegas, I said — ‘Las Vegas? That’s not big enough for me,’” Barnes said.