Paul Vail Converse

1923 - 2017

Paul Vail Converse

Eastern Shore - Commander Paul Vail Converse, USN (Ret.) passed away on September 7, 2017.

Cmdr. Converse was born on April 6, 1923 of Luella Wiles Converse and attorney Walter Reynolds 'Ray' Converse of Palmyra, NY. Upon graduation from Palmyra Classical Union School in June 1940, he enlisted as a seamen apprentice in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Post high school, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy where his extracurricular activities included Sailing Master of the yacht "Restless" and a member of the pistol team. As a 1944 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy Class of '45, he was commissioned and served as a junior gunnery officer and as officer of the deck in the Pacific operations aboard USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). At war's end, he entered flight training and became a designated Naval Aviator (HTA) [heavier than air classification] in February 1947. He was assigned to VPHL-4 (heavy land plane squadron) flying PB4Y-2's and becoming a Patrol Plane Commander. Detached in December 1949, he was assigned various divisions in the Overhaul and Repair Department at NAS Corpus Christi. It was there he met and married his beloved wife, Aline J. Austin of Mansfield, LA in 1951. His Navy career continued with duty as Staff Commander, Fleet Air Japan during part of the Korean operation, BUPERS, and U.S. Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA where he earned a MS in Physics. His other posts included Air Development Squadron One, NAS Key West Flying S-2, Trackers twin propeller, carrier, ASW aircraft, VS-27 at NAS Norfolk, Commanding Officer of VS-28 NAS Quonset Point, RI and as a long range underwater acoustic researcher at the U.S. Naval Advance Laboratory, White Oak, MD. He retired from the Navy in 1965.

Cmdr. Converse's second career was as an operation analyst with Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation/Grumman Aerospace Corporation in the anti-submarine warfare area and as Director of the Monte Carlo simulation computer analysis of airborne electronic warfare. In 1980, he retired to his home in Jamesville on Virginia's eastern shore where he served as an active member of Belle Haven Presbyterian Church for many years. He spent his final years at The Hermitage on the Eastern Shore in Onancock, VA.

He is preceded in death by his wife Aline Juanita Austin Converse, his parents, his brother Wiles E. Converse and sister-in-law Marjorie Matson Converse. He is survived by his children Catherine Converse Goddard of Plano, TX, Corliss Converse Farry of Matawan, NJ, and Matthew Austin Reynolds Converse of Gatlinburg, TN and their spouses: Ronald Goddard, James Farry and Laurie Roorback Converse; his grandchildren David Goddard and wife Angela Krause, Diane Farry Kovac and husband Randall Kovac, Lori Goddard Lamb and husband Michael Lamb, Elizabeth Farry Vaughn and husband Josh Vaughn; and five great-grandchildren.

True to his lifelong love of the sea, Cmdr. Converse will have U.S. Naval burial at sea. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society in his name.