Beverly Ecklund, first woman to work patrol for Duluth Police Department, dies at 73

DULUTH — Beverly Ecklund, a woman who made an unprecedented ascent through the ranks of the Duluth Police Department, died March 10 — just two months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was 73.

In a Facebook post, Police Chief Mike Tusken called Ecklund a pioneer who broke "glass and brass ceilings," both within the city and state. She was the first woman to earn the title of officer and to work patrol. She was also the first woman to make sergeant. In 1983, she was promoted again — likely becoming the first woman to be named police lieutenant in not just Duluth but also Minnesota, according to Tusken. It's a stat that appears on an index card in Ecklund's personnel file, written by then-Police Chief Eli Miletich, who was known for his precise record-keeping.

Angie Taran said her mother took her career in law enforcement very seriously. It took years, though, for she and her sister, Allie Collins, to recognize the groundbreaking moves Ecklund had made.

"As we got older, we started to realize how impactful she had been," Taran said. "She had a lot of firsts in her life with her career."

Ecklund graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1971 and started with the Duluth Police Department the following year. Her first title was policewoman — a role that had duties equal to the similarly titled men but for less pay and requiring a skirt and heels as part of the uniform, Tusken said.

In those days, some of the officers resisted having a woman as a partner in the field, recalled former Police Chief Scott Lyons. He didn't. He was paired with Ecklund briefly early in their careers, and when he was a detective, she was his boss. Lyons' male colleagues sometimes wondered aloud what their wives would think of them working closely with a woman, he said.

Ecklund had a rebuttal referencing a desert island that cut the conversation short.

"She was a strong lady with a huge sense of humor — huge," Taran said. "That was her thing. She did not take lip from anybody. She told it like it was."

Donetta Wickstrom preceded Ecklund at the Police Department by nearly a decade and pushed for the structural shifts that gave both of the women — and others who followed — the opportunity for equal pay and opportunities. Sometimes Wickstrom is identified as the first woman to make lieutenant, which she is always quick to correct.

Wickstrom did it after Ecklund.

"She was intelligent," Wickstrom said of her former colleague. "She was very caring. She had a great deal of appreciation for the work of the officers. She could also be very straightforward."

Tusken, who joined the department in the early 1990s, described her as having a quick wit and quick smile.

"She told it like it is — you didn't have to wonder what she was thinking, you knew," he said.

Ecklund was born in Brainerd and grew up in Richfield. She married Larry Ecklund in 1981, which Taran described as "a love story from the start." The twosome played on softball and bowling leagues together. They had two children and five grandchildren.

She retired from the Duluth Police Department in the late 1990s after a 26-year career, then she was named chief of police at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She hired Sean Huls, who currently leads the department.

"She cared about the people she worked for and the community she served," Huls said. "I remember early on in my career the advice she gave me about self-development. It helped lead me to where I am today. I owe a lot of where I am in my career to Bev."