Born in Winchester, Virginia, to Elizabeth Frances (née Stevens) and James Frederic Laise.[3] She received a Bachelor of Arts in public administration in 1938 from American University,[3] where she was a member of the Gamma Delta chapter of Phi Mu fraternity. She later received a Master of Arts in political science from George Washington University in 1940.[4][5]
In 1965, Laise traveled to India and Pakistan as an adviser to Vice President Hubert Humphrey. After a year in New Delhi, President Lyndon B. Johnson named her ambassador to Nepal in 1966, a position she held until 1973.[4] She was the fifth woman to be promoted to ambassador by Johnson.[7]
On January 3, 1967 she married 72-year-old ambassador-at-large Ellsworth Bunker in Kathmandu.[9] Their marriage was the first between two American ambassadors on active duty.[6] Laise continued using her maiden name professionally which was unusual at the time. Later that year, he was named ambassador to South Vietnam and for nearly the first six years of their marriage they only saw each other monthly, via a special government flight offered by President Johnson as enticement for Bunker to accept the post.[10]
