Rupert von Trapp

Rupert Georg von Trapp, M.D. (1 November 1911 – 22 February 1992) was the firstborn child and eldest son of Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agatha Whitehead von Trapp. He was a member of the Trapp Family Singers, whose lives were the inspiration for the play and film The Sound of Music. He was portrayed as the character Friedrich.

Biography

He was born on 1 November 1911. His parents married in January 1911. His father was Georg von Trapp and his mother was Agatha (née Whitehead) von Trapp (1891–1922). He grew up in Zell am See during World War I with his siblings, Agathe von Trapp (1913–2010), Maria Franziska von Trapp (1914–2014), Werner von Trapp (1915–2007), Hedwig von Trapp (1917–1972), and Johanna von Trapp (1919–1994). The youngest sister, Martina von Trapp (1921–1951), was born in Klosterneuburg (Austria), whither the Trapp Family had moved from Zell-am-See because their home (a "lake hotel" called "Kitzsteinhorn") had been flooded. In 1922, von Trapp's mother died of scarlet fever and was buried in Klosterneuburg when Rupert was almost 11 years old. In 1925, the family moved to Salzburg-Aigen. Rupert entered a public school, together with Werner; his sisters went to the Ursuline covent.

In 1927, his father, a widower, married Maria Augusta Kutschera, the teacher of von Trapp's sisters, Maria Franziska and Johanna. Georg and Maria Augusta had three children together: Rosmarie (1929), Eleonore (1931), and Johannes (1939). Rupert studied medicine and became an Austrian citizen. Later, in the family chorus, he sang bass. In 1938 he had a possibility of a job in Vienna, but refused because the job was being taken away from a Jewish physician by the Nazis. The family left Austria in summer of this year and went to America. Rupert was now in his mid 20s and went on tour with his siblings and his stepmother, and entered the army, together with Werner in 1942. Rupert and Werner eventually joined the U.S. Army (Rupert on 13 April 1943), serving in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division.

Personal life

In 1947 he married his first wife, Henriette Lajoie (1927 – 13 April 2013), and left the family chorus. In the same year, he graduated from the University of Vermont. Trapp became a naturalized United States citizen in 1948. He and Henriette had six children: Francoise, George, Monique, Elizabeth "Tizzy", Christopher, and Stephanie. Trapp married his second wife, Janice Tyre (1920–1996), in 1977.

Death

Rupert von Trapp died in 1992, aged 80, and was buried at the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont, next to his father, his stepmother, and his siblings: Werner, Hedwig, and Martina. He was survived by his wife and six children.