She Asked to Be Let Go: The Vanishing of Connie Converse

2026-08-06 · True Mysteries Editorial Desk · Vanished Without a Trace · 7 min read

Elizabeth Eaton Converse was born on August 3, 1924, in Laconia, New Hampshire, and grew up in Concord in a strict Baptist household. Her father was a minister. Music of the kind she would later write was not encouraged at home. Her younger brother Philip went on to become one of the most respected political scientists in the United States, and it was Philip who would end up keeping her papers, her tapes and, eventually, her silence.

She was an exceptional student. She graduated as valedictorian of Concord High School, collected eight academic awards and won a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She stayed two years and then left. In 1944, without finishing her degree, she moved to New York City. For a young woman from that background in that decade, walking away from a scholarship was close to unthinkable.

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