Francis Clement Converse , 91, passed away early Tuesday
morning at the St. Johnsbury Health & Rehab Center following an
extended illness. He was born July 11, 1914, in Passumpsic, Vt.,
son of the late Wesley and Mabel Fay Converse, who both died
when he was young. He lived with Harriet Frost in St. Johnsbury
while he attended and graduated from the St. Johnsbury Trade
School. Later he attended the Coyne Electrical School in Chicago.
After doing electrical work in St. Johnsbury for a while, he went to
Hartford, Conn., where he worked for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. He
enlisted in the Coast Guard and served two and a half years as a
motor machinist mate on Destroyer Escort 391, making seven
crossings of the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. Francis married
Marjorie Peake in December of 1944 and they moved to Elmira,
N.Y. He worked as an apprentice for a number of years before
going to work for Bendix Corp. After retirement from there, he
worked in electrical maintenance at Elmira College for seven
years. Francis was a lover of nature and the out-of-doors. He took
up painting and was a member of the Elmira Art Club for many
years. He won several awards and showed his landscapes at the
gallery and the fence show in the park. He and his wife became
interested in covered bridges, having grown up around them in
Vermont, and were active in several Covered Bridge societies for
40 some years. Family and friends have paintings he did of
bridges and other landscapes in New York, Vermont, Europe and
several other states. He leaves his wife, Marjorie, of 61 years who
lives at the Darling Inn; his son, Clay, who serves as a Boy Scout
executive in Germany; grandchildren, Karen Kucowski of
Wrightstown, N.J., Wendy Converse of Worcester, Mass.; and
Andrew Converse, a grad student in Albany, N.Y. Also he leaves
a dear sister-in-law, Lilla Watson of Lyndonville; nephews, Fay
Wesley Converse of Exeter, N.H., and his family, Richard
Converse of Shelburne, Mass., and his family, Robert Smith of
Lyndonville, Vt.; and a niece, Reta Murphy of Lewiston, Idaho.
Besides the immediate family, he leaves among his friends, Hank
and Sally Messing of Elmira, covered bridge enthusiasts for
nearly 50 years. Besides his parents, Francis was predeceased
by two brothers, Arthur and Fay; a half sister, Winnie Smith; and a
half brother, Fred Converse. A memorial service will be held at
the South Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury on Tuesday,
Nov. 29, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made
to the Vt. Covered Bridge Society, 2 Sugar Hill Road, Underhill, VT 05489.
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