Maria Kutschera, who was orphaned at seven, grew up with no interest in religion; for the “holy water girls” in her class, she felt only scorn. Yet, while studying to be a teacher, she stepped into a church one Palm Sunday and heard a sermon that changed her life. Opening her heart to God, she decided at once to become a nun.

In 1924 she entered Nonnberg Abbey, where, despite her good intentions, her lively personality raised eyebrows. Frequently she was reminded not to whistle in the cloister, or slide down banisters, or skip up the stairs. In 1926 the mother superior tested her vocation by sending her to serve a spell as tutor to one of the seven children of a widowed naval commander, Georg von Trapp. In time, and with the blessing of her abbess, she left the convent, married Georg, and bore three additional children.

Their story inspired the popular musical The Sound of Music—though with some poetic license. Yes, they fled Nazi rule in Austria, but there was no climb over the Alps; instead, a train to Italy and a boat to America. Maria consoled the children by recalling the Holy Family’s flight from Herod to Egypt. After that, she felt that “Jesus was a member of the family.” After Georg’s death, Maria and three of her children became missionaries in Papua New Guinea. She died in Vermont on March 28, 1987.

“It will be very interesting one day to follow the pattern of our life as it is spread out like a beautiful tapestry. . . . In looking back we can discover how a red thread goes through the pattern of our life: the Will of God.”

—Maria von Trapp