Paul Converse

Paul Vail Converse ’45 (USNA Class of 1945)

Commander Paul Vail Converse, USN (Ret.), died on September 7, 2017 at 09:15.  He was 94 years old.

Paul 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 and was discharged upon receiving an appointment as Midshipman, USNA, by the Secretary of the Navy.  At the Academy, his extracurricular activities centered on sailing and the pistol team.  He was Sailing Master of the Academy 44’ yacht “Restless”.  A 1944 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served on active duty until his voluntary retirement in July 1965.  During his career, he emphasized leadership development of his subordinates. After graduation and commissioning as Ensign in 1944, he 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 in 1945, he departed Ticonderoga for flight training in Dallas, Corpus Christi and Pensacola.  He was designated Naval Aviator (HTA) [heavier than air classification] in February 1947, and 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, Louisiana in 1951.  His Navy career continued with duty as Staff Commander, Fleet Air Japan during part of the Korean operation, BUPERS, and US Naval Postgraduate School Monterey California.  There he earned a MS in Physics.  At Air Development Squadron One, NAS Key West he started flying S-2, Trackers twin propeller, carrier, and ASW aircraft, which lead to assignment in VS-27 at NAS Norfolk and then Commanding Officer of VS-28 home posted at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island.  From 1962 until voluntary retirement in July 1965 as a Commander, he assisted in long range underwater acoustic research and supervision of physics research at the US Naval Advance Laboratory, White Oak Maryland.

As an operation analyst with Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation/Grumman Aerospace Corporation, he continued working on Navy projects.  At first his efforts were anti-submarine warfare oriented, including a year as head of the Grumman analysis team under contract to commander ASW Forces Pacific, Honolulu Hawaii.  Later he directed the Monte Carlo simulation computer analysis of airborne electronic warfare.  In the summer of 1980, he voluntarily retired again to his home in Jamesville on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where he was an active member of Belle Haven Presbyterian Church.  His last years were spent at The Hermitage on the Eastern Shore in Onancock, VA.

Paul had a lifelong love of sailing.  Somewhere around the age of 8, he built his first sailboat, and until his death, he had many boats whenever work permitted.  During part of his time with Grumman Aerospace, he had the 40’ Concordia Yawl “Akamai”, which permitted cruising Long Island Sound and the islands along the northeast coast.  The shoal waters of the eastern Chesapeake limited the size of later boats.

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, Corliss Converse Farry and Matthew Austin Reynolds Converse; his sons- and daughter-in-law, 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 his five great-grandchildren.

Cmdr. Converse will have burial at sea, an “at sea disposition”, aboard a deployed United States Navy Vessel, in lieu of a traditional service.  A memorial and celebration of life will be held at the family home, Holly Point in Jamesville, VA, Sunday, September 10, 2017, at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in his name to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Attn: Development, 875 N. Randolph St. Ste 225, Arlington, VA  22203, or online at http://www.nmcrs.org/donate.

Memory tributes may be shared with the family at www.williamsfuneralhomes.com.

Arrangements by the Williams-Onancock Funeral Home.