He attended Amherst College, served in the Army during World War I, and returned home to study law with his father and brother.

After practicing law in Vermont throughout the 1930s, and serving in the National Guard and organized Reserve, Chase returned to active duty for World War II and attained the rank of colonel as a member of the Judge Advocate General Corps.

In 1953, Chase was appointed an Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and he served until increasingly ill health forced him to retire in 1956.

[4] Chase attended Amherst College as a member of the class of 1918, and left during his junior year to join the United States Army for World War I.

[5][6] Subsequently, assigned to the headquarters of the 148th Infantry Regiment, a unit of the 37th Division, he took part in combat during October and November, including the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and fighting around Avocourt during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

[8] In January 1921, he was appointed assistant secretary of the Vermont Senate,[11] and in March, he was elected Brattleboro's grand juror (prosecutor in the municipal court).

[17] When the 43rd Division moved on to occupy Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands, Chase was assigned to serve as judge advocate for all forces on New Caledonia, and he was promoted to colonel in June 1943.

[18] In 1945, Chase was elected president of the Vermont Bar Association, and he completed the one-year term left vacant by the death of Leonard F.

[22] Chase was serving in the legislature in April 1947 and was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when he was appointed to the Vermont Public Service Commission.

[3] He was selected to serve as the commission's chairman, and held the post until September 1948, when he was appointed a judge on the Vermont Superior Court.

[23] Chase was appointed to the vacancy, in keeping with Vermont's tradition of promoting the chief judge of the Superior Court.

[26] In November 1945, Chase's World War II service was recognized with award of the Bronze Star Medal, which was presented by Leonard Wing.