'Sound of Music': Last original Von Trapp sibling dies

STOWE, Vt., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Maria von Trapp, the last-surviving of the original Trapp Family Singers and inspiration for the character of Louisa in "The Sound of Music," died Tuesday. She was 99.

Maria von Trapp was the third-oldest of the original seven children born to Georg von Trapp and his wife Agathe Whitehead depicted in the 1965 musical starring Julie Andrews.

Georg von Trapp later had additional children with Maria Kutschera, the character played by Andrews.

"Thank you for your thoughts. Maria had a wonderful life and while we will miss her the memories of her will live on," Johannes von Trapp, the youngest son of Capt. Georg von Trapp and Maria Kutschera von Trapp, told the New York Daily News.

“An irony to the story is that Maria, the sickly child, outlived all her six siblings,” Cassel said. “She was a wonderful person with a very kind heart. We all loved her," said Rebecca Cassel, the executive assistant with the Trapp Family Lodge.

[New York Daily News]