Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, while I’m not Scott Hamilton, not Brian Boitano, not Nancy Kerrigan, or anyone most of the figure skating community would recognize as I never skated, my heart aches for these people.

As a young musician, I traveled a lot within my state to various competitions. If there had been competitions like the ones in figure skating for young adults, I could’ve been in the same position these skaters, parents, and coaches were in.

Most of the names of the people who passed away have been released now, so I can discuss them a little bit more easily than before. I want to start with Franco Aparicio. He was thirteen, a citizen of Argentina, who was a member of the Washington Figure Skating Club. Gifted skaters often come to the United States because there’s more available ice time here (some countries might have one rink, or worse, no rinks at all), there are far more coaches available here, and it’s possible to make friends with like-minded people here. In his home country, Franco might’ve been considered odd for his love of figure skating and wanting to become an Olympic champion. In the United States, he found companionship, friendship, and appreciation for his abilities.

Franco’s father Luis was also aboard the flight that collided, somehow, with a helicopter. He was a skating parent, and did his best to help his child learn and grow as a skater and as a person. He was a dedicated man, driven, and did what was best for his child in bringing him to the United States where Franco could train and learn and find friends.

Franco’s coach, Inna Volyanskaya, was also aboard. She was fifty-nine, and was known for her grace, her resilience, and for winning six international medals as an ice dancer while skating for the former Soviet Union. She was very proud of Franco, very proud of all of her students, and was known for caring about them…possibly like a mama bear caring for her cubs. She was the type of person, I’ve gathered from various Internet sources, who loved figure skating, loved its grace and ability to transcend nationality and evoke beauty. She’d lived and worked in the United States for several years before her passing.

Brielle Beyer was twelve. She’d had a rare cancer as an infant, and grew up loving what so many young girls love: Walt Disney World. Taylor Swift. And skating. She was gifted. She loved her mother, Justyna, also aboard the fateful flight that took their lives. Her father called Brielle a shining beacon of light, so talented, with so much more to give.

Justyna Beyer, like Luis Aparicio, was a skating parent. She did everything in her power to get Brielle the training she needed. Being sent to the developmental camp was important for Brielle, so Justyna went while her husband stayed home and held the fort. She was very much looking forward to going home, but had enjoyed being among other skating parents like her in Wichita as they all watched their children, gifted skaters all, learn from the best.

Alydia Livingston was just eleven years old. She and her sister Everly, fourteen, had a following on Instagram as the “Ice Skating Sisters.” Alydia was an ice dancer, and was the youngest of all the skaters aboard. Ice dance is a different discipline than either pairs skating or women/men’s singles skating as it requires a partner, lots of time to get to know your partner and his quirks on the ice, and be able to develop a unison with said partner while gliding and dancing around the ice. Ice dancers don’t, technically, do any jumps, but they can do lifts and their discipline is very challenging due to the need for unison and unusual dance-type lifts. She had only recently found a new ice dance partner and was very enthusiastic about him and figure skating.

Everly was a singles skater. This, to non-figure skating cognoscenti, means she did jumps, spins, footwork across the ice, and so much more, fitting all that against music, wearing costumes reflecting that music, and almost certainly studying some form of ballet or dance as that helps skaters of all disciplines. (Alydia probably did some of that, too, and would’ve done more as she grew.) Everly was more reserved than her sister, but the ice made her sparkle; she loved skating. With her sister on that Instagram account, they promoted skating as a sport and as an art form.

Alydia and Everly’s parents, Donna and Peter Livingston, were known for their devotion to their daughters and being willing to go anywhere their daughters needed to be in order to further their skating. While they both held jobs — she worked for Comcast, and he worked as a real-estate agent — their true passion was for their daughters. Everyone knew it, from what I can tell by the various accounts all over the Internet. That’s why both of them were on the flight, why both of them had managed to get time off for a week at the same time — imagine how difficult that is for non-skating parents, OK? That’s hard. For something like this? That has to be magnified a thousand percent or more…yet they found a way and they were there with their daughters, until their end.

Skater Cory Haynos was sixteen. He’d recently landed a triple Axel jump, one of the most difficult three-revolution jumps. (Technically, it’s three and a half revolutions, which is what makes it an Axel in the first place. Plus the takeoff is different.) He was very proud of this, as he should be; this was part of what he needed, going forward, to become the rising star he hoped to be. He already was a gifted skater with limitless potential. He also was a Christian, and had a Biblical verse listed on his Instagram account. Cory had power and speed, and these two attributes were especially important to continue to climb the ladder as a skater. His family, including his cousins, believed Cory would represent the United States in the Olympics someday.

Cory’s parents, Roger and Stephanie, were skating parents who’d do anything for their son. She was on the board of the Figure Skating Club of Virginia, Cory’s home away from home…they, like the Livingstons, somehow found a way to go as a family to the important developmental camp held in Wichita at the conclusion of the United States National Figure Skating Championships. (I added “national” there because many skaters call the US championships the “nationals.”) They died alongside their son.

Note that all of these skating parents were in midlife. They had much time left to them, had this not happened. It’s not just the kids and their skating that’s so important to remember here, but the parents who did everything in their power — absolutely everything — to help get their kids the ice time, the coaches, the friends, the support…all of that was absolutely essential to their children’s development, they knew it, and they did it all.

Skater Edward Zhou was sixteen. He was known for being a bright light, someone who encouraged everyone. He loved skating, to the point he’d fall and get up with a smile on his face. One of his schoolteachers, Julie Barker Little, posted on Facebook as a tribute to him that he was “everything you could hope for in a student, in a young man, in a fellow human being. He was magic!”

Edward was also humble, his teacher Barker Little said. He only spoke of skating when asked. Other athletes were in his class that made big fusses over whatever sport they were in, and they had no idea that Edward was so gifted. Edward was actually part of the national development team for four consecutive years. Barker Little said Edward loved to learn, had taken Spanish classes and was given an award for learning the language so well, and was the epitome of grace and class. (That’s how I’m phrasing it from other things she’s said online.) Edward had also learned the important triple Axel jump, just like Cory Haynos.

His parents, Joe and Kaiyan Zhou, went everywhere they could with their son. They were devoted skating parents. He was their only child, and they did everything they could to help him become the young man he was destined to be. The Skating Lesson, a skating social media page, said that the Zhous were known for always being at the rink.

Skater Olivia Eve Ter was just twelve. The Skating Lesson reported that Ter’s coach, Sergei Baranov, called her “cheerful, positive, talented, goal-oriented girl.” She loved ballet in addition to figure skating (this does not surprise me; often, figure skaters take ballet or another dance discipline as it helps skaters learn how to move in different ways), and she’d improved in leaps and bounds over the past year. One of the other coaches at her rink, Maria Elena Pinto, called Olivia “effervescent” and that she loved to listen to Taylor Swift and watch her coach, Sergei, dance. Olivia also liked to play practical jokes on her coaches, and apparently kept other skaters in stitches, loosening up the atmosphere at the rink whenever she was around.

Her mother, Olesya Ter, was a devoted mother with a kind heart. She had been a pediatrician in Russia, but came to the United States to support her girls. Surviving them are Olivia’s father (and Olesya’s husband) Andrew and Olivia’s sister, Anna Valery.

Alexsandr Kirsanov was forty-six. A former ice dancer who competed for the U.S., Russia, and Azerbaijan, he was known for his kindness, his light-heartedness, and for being genuine. Former U.S. ice dancers Dennis Petukhov and his wife and skating partner, Melissa Gregory, said on MSNBC that Sasha was the type of guy who’d do anything for you he possibly could. He was down-to-earth in the best way. He truly cared about people. And he was kind…while like any coach, he could be critical (you almost have to be, in order to show your students what they need to do to improve), he delivered his critiques with a smile. Kirsanov was married to Natalya Guden, and they both coached for the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club.

Kirsanov was the coach of Angela Yang and Sean Kay, both just eleven years old. They’d been undefeated in the juvenile ice dance category all year. That’s hard to do. Sasha was very proud of them, and Yang and Kay had big dreams for the future. Angela’s mother, Lily, and Sean’s mother, Yulia, accompanied them on the flight. Angela is survived by her father and two siblings. Sean is survived by his father and three siblings. Kirsanov is survived by his wife, Natalya, and their children, both skaters.

I discussed Jinna Han and Spencer Lane in the earlier blog, but keep in mind their parents, Jin Han and Christine Conrad Lane, were also like the Livingstons. Like the Haynoses. Like Luis Aparicio. Like Mrs. Ter. Like the Zhous. Caring people who wanted the best for their children. People in midlife, with much time remaining for them to continue to encourage their children, giving good examples to others, and following their own passions, their own jobs, their own lives alongside their children. These were infinities, as science fiction author Lois McMaster Bujold called it.

These people were all infinities.

It’s been a few days, now, since all of these wonderful people died. Like former Olympic Champion Scott Hamilton, I can’t wrap my head around it. All of that potential, gone. All of those vital people in midlife, gone.

I really hope the National Transportation and Safety Board finds out what happened here, and that it never, but never, happens ever again.