Maria von Trapp, inspiration for 'Sound of Music,' dies at 99

Maria von Trapp, the last surviving member and second-eldest daughter of the musical family whose escape from Nazi-occupied Austria was the basis for “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 99.

She died at her home in Vermont, according to her 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.”

Along with her six siblings, father and stepmother, she formed a group, called the Trapp Family Singers.

"Thank you for your thoughts. Maria had a wonderful life and while we will miss her, the memories of her will live on," Johannes, the youngest son of Capt. Georg von Trapp and Maria Kutschera von Trapp, told The News in a statement through a hotel which the family built in 1950.

The von Trapp family escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938. After they arrived in New York, the family became popular with concert audiences.

The family eventually settled in Vermont, where they opened a ski lodge in Stowe.

Maria was the last surviving member of the original seven children born to Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead. The family was immortalized in the musical and film "The Sound of Music."

After Agathe Whitehead died from scarlet fever in 1922, George von Trapp was left to care for their seven children.
“The Sound of Music” was based loosely on a 1949 book by his 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.

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.”

Rosmarie von Trapp, Johannes von Trapp and Eleonore Von Trapp Campbell were born to Georg von Trapp and Maria von Trapp.

Maria von Trapp said their stepmother taught them classical music and “we also discovered we had all the voices necessary for four-part music.” They famously performed, and the Trapp Family Singers’ final U.S. performance was in 1956.

Maria later served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea.

By Ruchi Singh

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com