Martin Michael von Trapp, 71, passed away June 13, 2023, peacefully in the comfort of his home surrounded by loving family. The cause of his death was cancer. Born on September 29,1951, in Burlington, he was the son of Erika and Werner von Trapp.
He lived in Stowe, Vermont, and Reading, Pennsylvania, before moving to the family farm on the Common Road in Waitsfield, Vermont, at the age of 8 with his parents and five siblings. From an early age his sense of humor and gift of storytelling began around the dinner table, and he continued to entertain family and friends throughout his life.
As a young man Martin had a large appetite for adventure and a curiosity for travel. He went on many epic trips to Europe, Central and South America, and across the United States. These expeditions were always on a tattered shoestring, unpredictable and instinctive.
Martin had the heart of a farmer and the soul of a poet. He cherished the land he worked almost every day of his life. This long chapter of stewardship began in earnest once he was married in 1979, when he began raising his children and farming closely alongside his wife Kelly on the family farm they chose to call their home. The farm was Martin’s kingdom and he left his mark everywhere. He was artistic and the farm was his canvas — now his sprawling legacy.
Martin loved life. So many of his life experiences were viewed through rose-tinted glasses. He saw nuanced beauty in nature, people, places, vintage objects, and moments shared that many others might overlook.
Before Martin was so involved running the dairy and raising his kids, he had cultivated many of his passions and skills that he carried throughout his life. He was a motorcycle enthusiast, preferring to tinker and ride older vintage models like his cherished ’67 Bultaco or ’72 Victor BSA. He was gifted with a chainsaw and was often a one-man logging operation, supplying firewood to the farm and doing small jobs around the neighborhood for supplemental income. Like many other Vermont dairy farmers, Martin naturally was a ‘Jack of all trades.’ He was a maple sugar producer every spring for over 40 years. He boiled late into the nights down in the farm’s old sugarhouse.
He spent an incredible number of hours on his tractors, like a cowboy on a steel horse. He was such a skilled operator the tractor became an extension of himself when haying, plowing, spreading manure, brush hogging, or logging. He was very mechanical and maintained all the farm’s equipment.
He hated to throw things away and rarely bought anything new. He had a gift of keeping things going well past what was their expected lifespan. Martin was resourceful and frugal with his tinkering. His family lovingly called his moves “McGuyver-like.”
His garage that he built in his early 20s was a world unto itself, packed to the gills with tools, half-finished projects, a homemade forge, welders, lathes, grinders, etc. The Garage is synonymous with Martin. It stands almost as a shrine honoring his life’s work. It is impossible now to walk into it and not feel his presence.
The concept of time, dictated by society’s clock, eluded Martin his entire life. He was somewhat of an endangered species. He never held himself to any type of schedule. He took things day by day and navigated his responsibilities by the weather, his mood, and what his body was telling him it was willing to do in the moment. But to be completely honest, his wife Kelly, who did subscribe to a clock, always had to keep him in check, making sure he showed up at least to important scheduled events. If an old friend were to walk into the yard, Martin was known to stop what he was working on and “chew the cud” with them for hours.
He did give himself permission to rest. It must have occurred to him that since his chores were never ending, he may as well take purposeful breaks along the way. Although his disregard for time was frustrating for anyone trying to work with him, or even to get him to sit down to a meal in a timely manner, it was also what allowed him to always live in the present moment. His ability to always reside in the present was such a gift for the friends and family that surrounded him; the children in his life especially benefitted.
Martin was playful, silly, and spontaneous, which made children gravitate toward him always. He was a mentor to many local youth throughout his life. His nonjudgmental, accepting, and laid-back character kept many in his orbit. This was on full display in the summers when it was time to bring in the hay. The willingness of so many local kids to come help haul all the square bales from the field and into the barn was proof of the respect they had for the farmer. Martin made haying a fun job. Humor always fueled the hay crews even late into the evenings if a storm was looming on the horizon.
Martin was downright funny. Humor was his superpower and he leaned into it hard right until the end. He was a jokester, but rarely told preconstructed or rehearsed jokes. He was a grand improviser and his humor came out in stories full of detail, texture, and richness. He loved to do accented impressions of people that would cripple his small audiences with laughter.
Martin rarely watched television and was never on a computer or iPhone. In his down time, he would be found reading an epic novel, farming journals, the dictionary, or dusty old encyclopedias. He loved music and had it always playing, be it in his tractor while he clocked thousands of hours haying his many fields, feeding cattle round bales, or in the winter logging in the back woods. If he was in the house, music was always playing in the background.
He spent so much of his free time with his grandchildren, they called him “Grande” and he was wildly popular in all their eyes. Grande, a name he chose to be called when his first grandchild was born. The title, Grande, was in honor of his dearest mentor, Don Seiler, a prolific artist and friend based out of Florida, who truly inspired Martin and encouraged his natural creativity. Grande loved to get the grandkids around the kitchen table and create collaborative illustrations that often resulted in riotously wacky and wonderful works of art.
As his adoring family, we are still processing the cavernous void that we are left with since his passing. To take straight from his playbook, we need to tap into gratitude. We are so blessed to have had him as our patriarch. So thankful that he has instilled so much of himself in all of us. We will take pride in carrying on his philosophy of organic, regenerative agricultural practices, and will simply demonstrate his decency to the best of our ability.
Martin is survived by his wife, (soul mate, best friend, and partner in work and play) Kelly Breen von Trapp, sons Sebastian von Trapp ( Molly Semler), son Daniel von Trapp ( Jordan von Trapp), daughter Georgia von Trapp ( Joey Nagy), his sisters Barbara Crandall, Elisabeth Hall von Trapp, brothers Barnard von Trapp, Tobias von Trapp, and Stefan von Trapp, along with his 10 grandchildren — Harper, Samson, Sylvie, Dean, Westley, Julien, Averrett, Vivien, Wren, and Emmett.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Vermont Organic Farmers. A memorial service will take place in the fall. Date and location to be announced.
