Peter Livingston, a father who absolutely adored and cherished his daughters, built an ice rink for them when they were young. Everly and Alydia, 14 and 11, went on to become successful figure skaters. Both of them, however, alongside Peter and Donna Livingston, their mother and Peter's wife, died onboard American Airlines flight 5342 on Wednesday, January 29.
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It was a high-school friend of Peter's, Ted Boyke, who talked with PEOPLE and revealed how great of a father he was for both Everly and Alydia.
"Pete was a guy who was passionate about ice skating or about passing it on to his daughters," Boyke told the outlet. "He was the type of guy who would come up with a wild plan and you'd say, 'That sounds great, but it will never happen.' And then he would go out and achieve it."
Peter, according to Boyke, was an "avid hockey player." So, when Everly was born, he only had one thing in mind: to build an ice rink and to teach his daughter how to skate.
"I thought, 'That's incredible, but that will never work. How can you have an ice rink in your backyard?'" Boyke said. However, Boyke was surprised that Peter not only was able to pull off this feat but also the effect he had on both Everly and Alydia. "He not only did it ... but then his daughters went on to be elite ice skaters," Boyke said.
The Livingston Iceplex
Peter Livingston would name the ice rink "Livingston Iceplex." "He was known for every winter [for] putting down a tarp, boarding it off, pouring water into an ice rink that would freeze in the Virginia winters, and his daughters would practice there," Boyke continued. Peter even managed to keep the Livingston Iceplex running during COVID. This helped his daughters practice as other ice rinks became unavailable due to COVID restrictions.
Boyke would say that Peter, being a real estate agent, would always find the time to "help his daughters train in ice skating," taking them to ice skating competitions and meets.
"He put them first. He was really passionate about that, and about their enjoyment of ice skating, Boyke said. "What I'm trying to take from this tragic loss is that if you have a wild dream or you're passionate about something in life, just go for it. That's what Pete did, and that's the example I want to follow."
Peter, Donna, Everly, and Alydia Livingston were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held at Wichita, Kansas. The girls were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and were among the 67 victims of the Washington, D.C., aerial crash that took place above the Potomac River.
