Voices of EPUMC: Lacey & Jim Ecklund

by Sarah Gardner

In 1993 Jim Ecklund was living in Lincoln, Nebraska and excited about leading a trip to Japan through Friendship Force, a cultural exchange program. He was 37 years old and his father was growing impatient. “My dad said, ‘if you’d spend half as much time looking for a wife as you do on this exchange program you’d be married by now!’”

Little did Ecklund’s father know his son would meet his future wife on that trip. Cay Lacey had been the first one to secure her spot on the Japan adventure. A year later they were married and today are an indispensable team at EPUMC. 

Both grew up in the Midwest, Lacey on a farm in tiny Odell, Nebraska and Ecklund in Sioux City and Fort Dodge, Iowa. His father served as a Lutheran minister in both places. (Ecklund is no stranger to Scandinavian lutefisk, often described as fish flavored Jell-O. Let’s hope he never brings it to Fellowship Hour!)  

Before they met Lacey had raised two children with her first husband, taught school, chaired the Nebraskans for Public Television Auction and worked as a commercial real estate appraiser, among other things. Ecklund had pursued a career in advertising and graphic design, honing his web design and photography skills along the way.

“You really find out that people are people no matter where they live.”

After Ecklund and Lacey married they took more Friendship Force trips, including another trip to Japan, one to Belgium and the Netherlands and a final one to China in 2001. They also hosted Friendship Force participants from countries like Brazil and Russia, including Breshnev’s former translator. 

“It opened my eyes to the world,” says Ecklund. “You really find out that people are people no matter where you live. They have the same desires. And you get to know people from other countries as friends.” 

It turns out cultural exchange yields lots of amusing stories. Like the time Ecklund and Lacey introduced their Russian guests to American garage sales while hosting them in Lincoln. Russians were struggling economically in the 90’s. “So they got all this cool stuff at garage sales really cheap,” says Lacey. “They were thrilled. They just love to shop”(and drink! Ecklund recalls). Lacey remembers those same Russian guests getting on the plane to go home carrying ordinary sponge mops, which they couldn’t get in Russia at that time. And there was the time their Japanese friends asked them to pick them up in Cheyenne and drive them to Lincoln for a visit. “Well, it didn’t look that far on the map,” Ecklund says with a chuckle. (They took a plane.)

These days Ecklund and Lacey travel in a camper van and stay a little closer to home. They moved to Estes Park in 2015 after building a house here in 2006 and renting it to friends and family. They added a second story after realizing the visits by their extended family required more space. After all, if you’re entertaining 15 family members at one time (This did actually happen.) you need guest space. “Feeding them was the hard part,” says Ecklund. “We were like short order cooks.”  

Lacey credits Linda Bowie and her bell choir for bringing them to EPUMC. She visited one Christmas Eve and the bell choir performed. Lacey immediately wanted to join in. “That’s how we kind of got hooked in here and how we landed in a little nest of folks just like us.” Ecklund joined the church too and for eight years straddled two Estes Park churches. He worshipped at EPUMC and also worked as a web designer at Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church.  

Now they are both busy serving EPUMC. Most Sunday mornings Ecklund can be found in the sound room, engineering the audio, video and livestreams for the 9:45 AM service. Lacey is co-chair of Trustees, serves on the Admin council, and still plays in bell choir. Along with Ecklund, she also manages and fundraises for KREV, the local radio station (EPUMC holds the license.) and works on building projects around the church. The couple has an extensive woodshop in their home and have remodeled kitchens (including Pastor Ann and Agnes’), built cabinetry for EPUMC’s sound room, and many other “small” projects,”, as Lacey describes them. 

“We have quite a shop,” says Ecklund proudly. “We have pretty much any tool you’d ever need.”

And what’s the hardest part of all that construction work? Finicky power tools? Getting measurements just right? No, says Lacey, after pointing out the new floor in the sound room.

“Crawling around on the floor!”  

Lacey and Ecklund tidy up after renovating EPUMC's sound room.

(Photo Credit: Sarah Gardner)