Jim and Dorothy Stephens: pairs-skating their way through life
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She was an Ice Capades starlet. He's a curling Hall of Famer. They met at an ice rink in the 1940s and they're together still, regular faces at the arena they built, helping to keep Puget Sound on skates.
Like many love stories, theirs began on slippery ground, and not just because they met on ice, in a tiny town in Quebec.
"I was teaching children to skate and Jim was a better skater than me," recalls Dorothy Stephens. "The manager asked him to help me with the kids but he came on like a bulldozer."
"I was just trying to teach her something," is his version, "but she wouldn't listen."
Fortunately for Seattle-area skaters, they made peace. Dorothy and Jim Stephens, the founders of the Highland Ice Arena, created a skating legacy.
At 79, Dorothy is trim and lively. Jim is 80, with broad shoulders and an infectious laugh. They often extoll the talents and virtues of the other.
"He was a great instructor."
"She inspired students."
The combination worked.
Dorothy grew up along the frozen St. Lawrence River, where skating was like walking anywhere else. With three hockey-playing brothers, she learned to skate in "self-defense."
In Vancouver, B.C., Jim took to the ice thanks to his father, who ran a concession stand at a local rink, earning him free ice time. At 19, Jim won the Northwest junior men's title and Northwest dance title.
The Stephenses' paths crossed during World War II. Training with the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was stationed near the Quebec ice arena where Dorothy taught. They got to know each other while performing in traveling ice shows.
Soon, Jim transferred to Alaska and Dorothy won a spot in the Ice Capades. They corresponded while she reveled in her new life. Skating in a chorus line of 48 women, accompanied by a full orchestra, she traveled all over Canada and the United States.
"I was in six numbers and my favorite was the Blue Danube," she says. "We wore tall headdresses with wigs, and ball gowns with hoops. We carried two huge white feather fans that we waved up and down."
In 1944, Jim proposed on a railway-station platform. "He was the only guy I knew who liked to skate as much as I did, so I said yes," Dorothy laughs.
After the war, they made their way to the U.S. to teach, finally settling in Ballard. In 1962 they built the Highland Ice Arena.
Jim also helped found Seattle's Granite Curling Club, which is still going strong. A national competitor and coach in his day, he was inducted into the United States Curling Association Hall of Fame in 1995. He still referees on occasion.
Through good times and bad, the Highland arena finally flourished. The couple's children, Rick Stephens and Terry Green, carry on the tradition now, teaching lessons and managing. Even grandchildren and in-laws work there.
Jim has only recently loosened the reins a bit. He used to keep the arena open every day of the year.
"It took us years to get Dad to close on Christmas," says Green. "Now we're open 364 days a year."