[msb-alumni] Maria von Trapp, 99, dies in Vermont Family was basis for 'Sound of Music'
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 10:53:45 -0500
BlankMaria von Trapp, 99, dies in Vermont Family was basis for 'Sound of
Music' Associated Press STOWE, Vt. Maria von Trapp, the last surviving
member and second-eldest daughter of the musical family whose escape from
Nazi-oc'cup'ied Austria was the basis for The Sound of Music, has died. She
was 99. Von Trapp died at her home in Vermont on Tuesday, according to her
half brother Johannes von Trapp. She was a lovely woman who was one of the
few truly good people, he said. There wasn't a mean or miserable bone in her
body. I think everyone who knew her would agree with that. Maria von Trapp
was the last surviving member of the seven original Trapp Family Singers
made famous in The Sound of Music. She was portrayed as Louisa in the 1959
Broadway musical and a 1965 film, which won the Oscar for best picture. She
was the third child and second-oldest daughter of Austrian Naval Capt. Georg
von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp. Their seven
children were the basis for the singing family in the musical and film. The
Sound of Music was based loosely on a 1949 book by von Trapp's second wife,
also Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987. It tells the story of an Austrian
woman who married a widower with seven children and teaches them music. In
1938, the family escaped from Nazi-oc'cup'ied Austria and performed concert
tours throughout Europe and then a three-month tour in America. The family
settled in Vermont in the early 1940s and opened a ski lodge in Stowe. Von
Trapp played accordion and taught Austrian dance with sister Rosmarie at the
lodge. She wrote in a biography posted on the Trapp Family's website that
she was born in the Austrian Alps after her family fled fighting from World
War I and that she was surrounded by music growing up. Father played the
violin, accordion and mandolin. Mother played piano and violin, she wrote. I
have fond memories of our grandmother playing the piano for us after meals.
Her biography on the website also said that she worked as a lay missionary
in Papua, New Guinea.
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