Update

2009 UPDATES

A Visit to the Von Trapp Lodge Stowe, Vermont June 2009	On June 14 I traveled to Stowe Vermont to pay tribute to Werner Von Trapp who passed away. My Sound of Music siblings and I dedicated a beautiful apple tree with a plaque honoring Werner. It was a beautiful ceremony attended by many of the Von Trapps and the Non Trapps (as my siblings and I are fondly referred to). It was wonderful to spend time with the people that we portrayed in the movie and the extended family. They are wonderful folks!
		Maria Von Trapp holding the dedication plaque. clockwise: Angela Cartwright, Duane Chase, Debbie Turner, Kym Karath, Maria Von Trapp (I played her part Louisa in the movie) and me
trappfamily.com		The halls of the lodge are lines with Sound of Music memorabilia
	The Von Trapps with the Non Trapps

2008 UPDATES

SEPTEMBER 2008

DEBBIE TURNER, PETER HANKWITZ AND ME

The first Robert Foundation for Cancer Research and Patient Care Fundraiser was held at Peter Hankwitz's home on September 13th. It was a great crowd and everyone had a fantastic time! The event also coincided with Peter's 40th birthday! My friend and Sound of Music "sister" Debbie Turner flew in for the occasion. We are planning our gala soon and I will keep everyone updated on that.

Donations can be sent to:
The Robert Urich Foundation
6900 Canby Avenue, Suite 101
Reseda, CA 91336
818-758-6900
urichfoundation.org

We will never give up.

Cheers
Heather Menzies Urich

MARCH 2008

JANUARY 2008

Here I am at the opening of "Freeze Frame - 5 Decades of Photographs" by Douglas Kirkland at the
Academy of Arts & Sciences. Renowned photographer Kirkland took this photograph
of us during the shoot of "The Sound Of Music" which is in his exhibit.
Charmian Carr (Leisl), Kym Karath (Gretyl) and Angela Cartwright (Brigitta) were also there.

2007 UPDATES

NOVEMBER 2007

I recently had the pleasure of visiting my Sound of Music sibling Nicholas Hammond and his wonderful Mom Eileen aboard the ship Zaandam before they set sail for Hawaii. The ship is marvelous and I was very jealous. I wanted to stow away! We had a delicious lunch and toasted our friendship with Champaign. The guest relations director, Amber, could not have been more gracious to us, as she is a devoted fan of the movie. We took photos with the crew and promised to take the cruise together soon. It would be fun to share Sound of Music tales with the passengers!!
I sadly waved them off as they sailed into the sunset.

JULY 2007

CLICK TO ENLARGE
Ali takes a swing the girls become mermaids Debbie & family and first corn of the season

Deb Turner (Marta Von Trapp) just left with her gang. They brought their jet skis up from Minnesota and ripped up the lake for a week. Alli loves Debbie's daughter Kate. They look amazingly alike....nobody believes they are not sisters. How is that for coincidence? Her Debbie and I played sisters and our kids end up looking like sisters. We are going to miss those guys! They left on a perfect lake day. We had to pry those kids out of the water. We have a few weeks of lake and beach before we are off to Scotland. Alli and I paid a visit to Bob's memorial in Canada. Now I am basking in spending time as Grandma with my daughter Emily and her little ones Mia and Michelle.

Mia, Michelle & Alli
Till next time,

MAY 2007

I just got back from a jam packed trip to NYC. I went with Peter Hankwitz to the Sarcoma Foundation of America event at the newly renovated Marriott Hotel. As in past years, the event had an enormous turnout. More people have been touched by this disease than one would imagine. Anthony Federov, from American Idol fame, sang for us. He's an amazingly talented young man who lost his brother at the age of 28 to Sarcoma.

ANTHONY FEDEROV

The rest of the week was spent going to as much theater as I could squeeze in with a little shopping on the side. I made my usual stop at The American Girl flagship store for some goodies for Alli. I was honored to be able to see Christopher Plummer in "Inherit the Wind." He is truly one of the greatest actors of our modern age. I went back stage to see him and tell him so. I don't know how the Tony voters will ever vote this season. There are so many terrific shows and the talent is abundant.

I'm off to Canada in a couple of weeks and then to Scotland for the Clan Menzies reunion at the castle in Aberfeldy.

More to come!

FEBRUARY 2007

Actually, welcome spring! I'm enjoying Spring Break with my little Alli and my son Ryan, who is home from Med School. He's having fun learning all about saving lives, and Alli is not having fun learning her times tables. From one extreme to the other!

I'm pleased to announce that our nonprofit status has finally come through for the new California based Robert Urich Foundation for Cancer Research. It only took a couple of years of cutting through red tape and jumping through hoops! I'm still affiliated with the Urich Fund at The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. But, I wanted to develop a California based Foundation so that I would have more hands on control of how the events are produced. I also felt the need to fund programs for all forms of cancer while working in affiliation with The Sarcoma Foundation of America as well as The University of Michigan. We are off to the races and are planning a big event for this coming fall. Marc Cherry, creator/producer of "Desperate Housewives," has graciously offered to help us out with a dinner/auction on the set of Wisteria Lane. More to come on that!!

I'm off to NYC next month to attend the 5th annual Sarcoma Foundation of America's fundraising event. This year they are honoring all past courage award recipients, myself included. Two years ago I accepted a posthumous award for Robert. I wasn't the one with the courage, he was. This year there will be a special guest appearance by Anthony Fedorov, a popular American Idol, who recently lost his brother to sarcoma. The most important strides The SFA has been making have been to change the FDA laws to allow for more drugs to be approved for sarcoma and other rare cancers.

Cheers!

JANUARY 2007

Getting together with the SOM gals in January
(left to right) Debbie Turner, Angela Cartwright, me and Kym Karath

Fun Times...