Last Original von Trapp Dies

The last surviving member of the seven original Trapp Family Singers passed away at her home in Vermont last week at the age of 99. Her singing family was the inspiration for the broadway classic The Sound of Music, and Maria was depicted as Louisa in the show and film. She was the third child and second-eldest daughter of Capt. George von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp. Maria' stephmother-also named Maria-wrote a book about a woman who marries a widower with seven children and teaches them music, which became the basis for The Sound of Music. After feeeing Austria, they became popular with concert audiences in New York and opened their own ski lodge in Vermont.