Paul Weaver Chase was born in Magnolia, Wisconsin on January 5, 1890. He attended the high school in nearby Evansville, from which he graduated in 1909. Upon his graduation, Chase spent a year studying at Evansville Seminary and then worked for one year as a railroad station agent. In 1911 he enrolled in the school of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; he graduated with a bachelor's degree in soil sciences in 1915. Moving to Mountain Lake, Minnesota, Chase began teaching agriculture at a local school. In late 1917 he joined the army and began attending the School of Military Aeronautics at Berkeley, California. He received flight training at Rockwell Field (San Diego, California), Fort Sill (Oklahoma), Camp Dick (Texas), and Taliaferio Field (Texas). In July 1918 Chase was sent to France as part of the 8th Aero Squadron. He served as the pilot of a two-man plane, flying with an observer/gunner. Chase and his squadron took aerial photographs of German forces and helped direct artillery. Rising to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, Chase and his partner were credited with downing a German fighter. Following the war, Chase returned home and was officially discharged in May 1919. He married his fiancée Bessie Thomas in July 1919, and the two would have three children. Chase resumed teaching in Minnesota in late 1919; he served as the superintendent of schools in Warroad, Minnesota from 1927 to 1945. He then returned to Wisconsin, where he taught agriculture courses for ten more years. Chase retired in 1957 and passed away in Madison, Wisconsin on February 3, 1969, the same year he was honored as a 50-year member of the American Legion.
