Born while her parents were on the road with the circus, she made her debut on the high-wire in 1939 at age 3. She continued to perform well into her senior years. On March 20, 2016, at age 80, Carla Wallenda, grandmother of nine, hung off of a 100-foot-high swaying pole in Palm Bay, FL, in a feat covered by major news outlets and the film of which is widely circulated on the internet.