March 17, 2017, interview with Virginia

Virginia was a senior in high school in 1950 when she met Maria von Trapp at St Anthony's Academy in Carroll.
During the school assembly, Virginia and another student were chosen to go up on stage to stand with Maria.
Students in 9 through 12 attended the assembly program.
Virginia doesn't remember much about what she spoke about anymore but it mostly covered the Catholic faith. None of the other von Trapp family members were there and Maria did not sing any songs.
At this time, Maria wasn't as well-known and famous. In the 1950s the family made a series of records of their singing and not until the Broadway musical "The Sound of Music" in 1959 and the film came out in 1965, did the von Trapp family singers become widely known.

Lacrosse, Wisconsin, is where the nuns that taught Virginia came from - their "motherhouse."
Virginia knew she would like to become a nurse while in high school and when she received a scholarship that sealed the deal so to speak.

The other time that Virginia got up on stage during an assembly was when a violinist came to play his Stradivarius. Virginia also played the violin but never expected she would actually be able to hold a Stradivarius in her hands like she did that day on the stage.

Virginia came from a family of 11 children…2 died very young. She was born in Le Mars, Iowa.
Her parents took a trip to California and while there they decided to move from Iowa to California. Her dad stayed behind and her mom came back to Iowa to sell the house and move the children out to California.
This was during the prohibition days. Her mother always made wine so to sell the wine it was "sold with the basement."
Roy met Virginia at a dance in Carroll. Roy and Lester Joens went to the dance.
Virginia was in nurses' training school at this time and since she lived in Carroll, she could drive the family car so she took several nurses with her to the dance. While they were dancing, Roy came over and asked Virginia to dance and they did.