“So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good-bye!” sang the von Trapp children in The Sound of Music. The real von Trapps also said many good-byes.
After their concert-touring days ended, Mother, Johannes, Maria, Rosmarie, and Father Wasner went to work as missionaries in New Guinea.
Martina died in childbirth in 1951. Hedwig taught school in Hawaii and Austria, where she died in 1972. Mother led a busy life at the Trapp Family Lodge and she died in 1987. Rupert, who worked as a doctor and raised six children, died in 1992. Johanna and her husband returned to Austria with their seven children. She died there in 1994. Werner farmed in Vermont with the help of some of his six children. He died in 2007.
Today, Agathe, who worked in a kindergarten, lives in Maryland. Maria lives near the Trapp Family Lodge. Rosmarie also lives near the Lodge. Eleonore and her husband live in Vermont. Their seven daughters and grandchildren visit often. Johannes has managed the Trapp Family Lodge for many years. His children now help him.
As Mother said, “There comes a time to say ‘auf Wiedersehen,’ but never to our memories and music.”
W is for auf Wiedersehen.
It means “Our visit now ends.”
An Austrian saying, used by von Trapps saying farewell to family and friends.