JANET AND JOHN MEET
THE VON TRAPP CHILDREN

IT STARTED WITH AN EMAIL REQUEST FROM ANNIE VON TRAPP IN 2001. SHE WONDERED IF I WOULD WORK WITH HER FOUR CHILDREN ON YODELING. SHE SAID THEY WOULD FLY TO DALLAS WHEN AND IF TIME. YOU CAN NOT IMAGINE THE EXCITEMENT I FELT WHEN I SAW THE ‘VON TRAPP’ NAME ON THAT INCOMING EMAIL.

I IMMEDIATELY SENT A RETURN EMAIL ASKING WHERE THEY CALLED HOME. I WOULD HAVE PUT MONEY ON THE FACT THAT SHE WOULD ANSWER WITH THE NAME OF A TOWN SOMEWHERE BACK EAST SINCE THAT IS WHERE THE CAPTAIN AND HIS FAMILY SETTLED WHEN THEY CAME TO AMERICA. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN SHE SAID THEY LIVED IN MONTANA. FOR THOSE FOLKS WHO KNOW ME WELL, YOU KNOW THAT MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS HOW MUCH THE AIRFARE WOULD BE FOR THAT MANY PEOPLE TO FLY ROUNDTRIP TO DALLAS TEXAS AND BACK AND ‘FOR A FEW MINUTES OF YODEL COACHING FROM ME.’ WOW, I READ THE EMAIL OVER AGAIN TO MAKE SURE I WAS READING IT RIGHT. YEP, THAT’S WHAT THEY WANTED TO DO AND I HAD TO FIGURE A WAY TO MAKE THE ‘MEETING HAPPEN’ AND NOT COST ANYONE THAT KIND OF MONEY TO LEARN TO YODEL.

THERE WERE SEVERAL EMAILS BACK AND FORTH AND IT WAS DECIDED THAT SINCE JOHN AND I WOULD BE SINGING IN CHEYENNE, WYOMING OVER THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND (2001) THAT IT WOULD BE FUN FOR US TO LEAVE TEXAS EARLY ENOUGH TO DRIVE TO THEIR HOME NEAR KALISPELL, MONTANA BEFORE OUR SINGING GIG IN CHEYENNE. AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, THEIR HOME IS CLOSE TO THE ENTRANCE OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK AND I HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO GO THERE AND SEE IT SO THE PLAN WAS SET INTO MOTION. IT WAS HARD TO SAY EXACTLY WHAT DAY WE WOULD ARRIVE BUT I WOULD CALL THEM WHEN WE WERE IN THE AREA AND CERTAINLY BEFORE GOING TO THEIR HOME.

WHEN JOHN AND I ARRIVED IN KALISPELL, WE FOUND THAT THE CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHER WERE DOWN IN ANOTHER TOWN RECORDING SONGS FOR THEIR FIRST CD PROJECT. THAT ACTUALLY WORKED OUT JUST FINE BECAUSE THAT MEANT JOHN AND I COULD TAKE THOSE DAYS TO GO THROUGH GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. WE CHECKED INTO A MOTEL FOR THE NIGHT, GOT UP EARLY AND OFF INTO THE PARK WE DROVE. WE ENJOYED THE AWESOME SIGHTS. WE STOPPED ALONG THE WAY FOR PHOTO SHOTS AND EVEN STOPPED AT THE TOURIST REST STOP AT THE TOP OF THE CLIMB WHERE WE REALIZED WE WERE NEARLY TO THE CANADIAN BORDER AND THAT WE ACTUALLY HAD ENOUGH TIME TO DRIVE TO CALGARY, SPEND THE NIGHT AND DRIVE BACK TO KALISPELL WHERE WE WOULD SPEND ANOTHER NIGHT BEFORE MEETING THE VON TRAPPS WHICH IS WHAT WE DID.

IT WAS SET ON AUGUST 25TH THAT WE DRIVE TO THEIR HOME AND WE’D GET ON WITH SOME YODELING. WE DROVE OUT A WAYS AND ON A TWO LANE HWY WHERE WE WERE TO LOOK FOR THEIR MAIL BOX NUMBER THAT WAS AT THE END OF THEIR DRIVEWAY. WE IMMEDIATELY DROVE PAST IT AND FOUND A SPOT TO TURN AROUND BUT WE FELT GREAT BECAUSE WE HAD FOUND THEM. WE TURNED AND DROVE UP THE LONG DRIVEWAY TO WHERE THERE WERE THREE HOMES. WE GOT UP TO THE AREA WHERE WE HAD TO CHOOSE ONE OF THE THREE HOMES. WE PICKED THE ONE THAT ‘LOOKED’ LIKE A VON TRAPP FAMILY WOULD LIVE IN. IT WAS LARGE, TWO LEVEL AND THERE WASN’T MUCH DOUBT THAT IT WOULD BE THEIRS. IT RESEMBLED A LODGE IN PROGRESS.

WE WERE MET BY A BARKING DOG WHO ANNOUNCED OUR ARRIVAL AND THEN A DOOR OPENED AND OUT BOUNDED FOUR CHILDREN RUNNING OUR WAY. WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN JOHN AND I ABOUT THEN. TWO GROWN ADULTS BOUNDING OUT OF THE CAR AND RUNNING TOWARDS FOUR RUNNING KIDS AND ALL OF US GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR.

JOHN AND I HAVE TOLD THAT STORY MANY TIMES SINCE 2001 BECAUSE WE WERE LIKE THAT COMMERCIAL WHERE THEY WERE ALL RUNNING TOGETHER. IT WAS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME MEETING FOR US FOR SURE AND THEY ACTED LIKE IT WAS FOR THEM ALSO.

THE KIDS WERE SO FUN TO BE WITH THAT AFTERNOON. JOHN WAS GIVEN A TOUR OF JUSTIN’S ‘LADYBUG FARM’ AND ANNIE AND THE GIRLS GAVE ME A TOUR OF THE GARDEN AREA WHERE ANNIE RAISED VEGGIES AND SHE ALSO HAD AN AREA WHERE SHE GREW FLOWERS FOR SOME OF THE RESTAURANTS AND CAFÉS IN THE AREA.

WHEN WE WALKED INTO THEIR HOME, IT WAS LIKE WALKING INTO A LODGE WITH A GREAT ROOM. THE PILLARS WERE LARGE AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AREA WAS A VERY LONG TABLE THAT LOOKED LIKE IT COULD SEAT 12 OR MORE PEOPLE COMFORTABLY. THE KITCHEN STOVE, FRIDGE, AND OTHER KITCHEN ITEMS WERE ALL VISABLE ALONG THE SIDE AND BACK AREA OF THE GREAT ROOM. WE WERE BLOWN AWAY.

ANNIE PREPARED A WONDERFUL SUPPER FOR US. THE SALAD FIXIN'S CAME FROM HER GARDEN AND IN THE CENTER OF THE LARGE TABLE WAS A BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET FROM HER FLOWER GARDEN. IN THE PHOTO WE TOOK OF THE TABLE YOU CAN SEE A VERY LARGE PAN OF HOMEMADE BISCUITS READY FOR EATING. EVERYTHING WAS PREPARED JUST RIGHT. WE TRULY ENJOYED OUR DINNER.

ANNIE HAD ASKED US EARLIER IN THE AFTERNOON IF WE MINDED THAT SOME OF THEIR FRIENDS FROM CHURCH WERE COMING OVER TO HEAR THE ‘YODELING LADY FROM TEXAS’ AND OF COURSE WE WERE FLATTERED AND SAID WE WOULD LOVE TO MEET THEM ALL.

AFTER DINNER THEIR FRIENDS FROM CHURCH STARTED ARRIVING AND TRUST ME WHEN I SAY, THE FUN BEGAN. OUT CAME THE BIGGEST JAR OF HOME MADE JAM I HAVE EVER SEEN AND THE BISCUITS AND JAM STARTED DISAPPEARING RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES. THERE WAS SINGING BY THE KIDS, SINGING AND YODELING BY JANET AND YES, EVEN JOHN GOT INTO THE ACT WITH THE FINALE BEING OF COURSE, TARZAN.

THEY ALL ASKED IF WE WOULD COME TO THEIR CHURCH IN THE MORNING, WHICH WE DID. THEY WERE HOLDING THEIR SERVICES IN THE HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM UNTIL THEY GOT THEIR OWN CHURCH BUILT.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CHURCH SERVICE WE SAID OUR GOODBYES AND HEADED OUT FOR OUR GIG IN CHEYENNE, WYOMING.

JOHN AND I LEFT THEM KNOWING WE WOULD NEVER FORGET THE GREAT TIME WE HAD AT THEIR HOME AND THE GREAT MEMORIES WE TOOK WITH US FROM MEETING THAT WONDERFUL FAMILY.

I STAYED IN TOUCH WITH THE VON TRAPPS BY PERIODIC EMAILS. PEOPLE SENT US ARTICLES ABOUT THE KIDS' SUCCESSES. IT SEEMED THAT WHENEVER THEY APPEARED IN OR AROUND DALLAS, WE WERE BOOKED SOMEWHERE ELSE ON THAT DAY SO IT WASN’T UNTIL LATE IN NOVEMBER OF 2008 THAT I SAW AN ARTICLE THAT THE VON TRAPP CHILDREN WOULD BE APPEARING IN RICHARDSON, TEXAS ON JANUARY 24TH 2009.

I IMMEDIATELY TRIED TO OBTAIN TICKETS BUT FOUND THAT THE PERFORMANCE WAS TOTALLY SOLD OUT. I CONTACTED ANNIE VON TRAPP AND TOLD HER WE’D LIKE TO CONNECT WITH THEM WHILE THEY WERE IN THE AREA.

I HEARD RIGHT BACK AND FOUND OUT THAT THEY WOULD BE IN TEXAS FOR MOST OF JANUARY AND THAT WE’D FOR SURE CONNECT AT SOME POINT BEFORE THEY LEFT.

ON FRIDAY JANUARY 23, ANNIE EMAILED AND SAID SHE HAD TWO TICKETS FOR US IF WE WANTED THEM. NEEDLESS TO SAY, WE SAID ‘YES’ AND WE WENT. THE PERFORMANCE WAS AT THE EISEMANN THEATRE IN RICHARDSON. THE PLANO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMED AND PLAYED MUSIC FROM ‘SOUND OF MUSIC’ FOR THE VON TRAPP CHILDREN.

I COULDN’T HAVE BEEN MORE PLEASED WITH THEIR PERFORMANCE BUT WHEN THEY SANG ‘THE LONELY GOATHERD’ AND YODELED I COULD HARDLY HOLD MYSELF DOWN IN MY SEAT. THEY WERE WONDERFUL.

I DON’T WANT ANYONE TO THINK I AM SAYING THAT ‘I TAUGHT THEM EVERYTHING THEY KNOW’ BUT WHAT I AM SAYING IS THAT ‘I WAS A YODELING MENTOR TO THESE GREAT KIDS’ AND I AM VERY PROUD OF THEIR SUCCESS.

THE KIDS ARE NEARLY GROWN NOW. SOPHIA, THE OLDEST IS ATTENDING COLLEGE IN BOSTON AND ALL OF THE OTHERS ARE IN THEIR TEENS. THEY ARE STILL WELL MANNERED, BEAUTIFUL KIDS AND WE’RE SO PROUD TO CALL THEM OUR FRIENDS.