Barry was dead on Crisis on infinite Earths in 1985 and not get revive treatment until 23 years later (2008) on Final Crisis.
During That Time Wally become The new Flash.
Wally is the freaking best, and has been one of my favorite comic characters for years. I find his arc as a legacy hero much more interesting than Barry's, and he never destroyed the world because of his mother issues.
Yup, the JL/JLU shows had a tremendous impact on popular culture, it's why people were shocked when the Ryan Reynold's GL movie came out and Green Lantern wasn't black.