Wade Ellis Ekstrom

Wade Ellis Ekstrom died in Medford on August 23, 2026. He was 86. Born in Medford on August 15, 1940, into a Swedish-American household that treated work as a language. He learned early that a day is something you finish, not something you wait for. He marked boards with chalk that meant money. A stick in his pocket decided grades; fairness kept the mill from arguing with itself. Colleagues still mention a chalk stick for marking boards. He married Carol in 1967. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised a son and a daughter through public schools and ordinary weather. After Carol died in 2019, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember a porch light left on for anyone walking home late. He liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. He died in Medford, among streets he never needed to explain. The porch still expects a returning step.