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Wallenda died in Sarasota, Florida, on Friday night after a
long illness, her nephew Rick Wallenda said.
"She contributed greatly to our family, our high-wire troupe and
our community... she is going to be greatly missed," he said.
Wallenda was the grandmother of Nik Wallenda, who completed
high-wire walks across the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and two
Chicago skyscrapers during the last three years.
"She was an amazing woman who lived a truly incredible life,"
Nik Wallenda said on his Facebook page.
Wallenda was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, where she was
captured by Russian soldiers during World War II. As she faced a
firing squad, Wallenda was saved by allied soldiers, according
to her nephew.
In 1947, she came to the United States, where she performed in
her family's high-wire act, which included stunts such human
high-wire pyramids, and in her own act for the next two decades,
Rick Wallenda said.
After retiring from the high wire, Wallenda bought several
carnival rides and created a circus parade and festival in
Sarasota, he said.
She was part of seven generations of dare-devils that began in
1780 in Europe, where the Wallenda family started a traveling
circus troupe, according to Wallenda.com. Her husband Richard
Faughnan died in 1962 from a fall and her father, Karl Wallenda,
fell to his death from a high wire in Puerto Rico in 1978.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Dan
Grebler)
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