Remembering the 'spitfire' of Wareham, former Select Board member Brenda Eckstrom

Anyone who has packed into the high school auditorium over the years for a Town Meeting likely remembers when Brenda Eckstrom took to the microphone. At just 5 feet 2 inches, the former Select Board member never hesitated to "speak her mind" for the betterment of the town. 

That's how her four daughters describe her, and want the town to remember her — as an advocate. 

Brenda died of small cell lung cancer Tuesday, April 7. Her daughter, Victoria Eckstrom spoke of her mother's political and personal passions. 

Victoria Eckstrom commended her mother, who served six years on the Wareham Select Board and spent time on other boards including the Onset Board of Water Commissioners and Board of Assessors, for "never bringing work home." She said except for the few Christmas parades she and her girls walked in, Brenda Eckstrom never involved her children in the foils of town government. 

"She is so much more outside of politics," Victoria Eckstrom said. 

Brenda Eckstrom spent her downtime tending to her kids, as she was a stay-at-home mother for most of their lives. Victoria Eckstrom said her mom was kind and would give the shirt off her back to help others. 

"She wanted us to grow up confident, strong and independent, and I couldn't thank her enough for that," she said.

Victoria Eckstrom said her mother would often act as a mother to her daughter's friends, and liked to problem solve. "Honest" is one of many words she used to describe how Brenda Eckstrom was in and out of the public eye. 

"Google what a mom is— that's what she was. She was so great," Victoria Eckstrom said. 

While on the Select Board, Brenda Eckstrom tried to get the state legislature to count mobile homes toward the town’s affordable housing requirements. She got a series of affordable housing reforms passed in Wareham as a citizens petition in 2021.

Victoria Eckstrom said her mom looked to better the community, even through her "spitfire" tendencies at Town Meeting and other municipal meetings. Though things may have gotten heated sometimes, she said her mom fought for what she believed was right. 

"Everything she did was never to benefit herself and her ventures — because she didn't have any other ventures. She had the four of us and my dad," she said. 

Brenda Eckstrom was previously diagnosed with stage 3-B non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer. She beat both cancers in just 19 months and was cancer free for eight years.

Sarah Doody, another daughter of Brenda Eckstrom, credited the Dana Farber Institute for the extra time they got with Brenda Eckstrom and urge the community to donate money to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Thoracic Oncology Department. Their hope is to fund the research, education and improvement of diagnostic ability for small cell lung cancer.

"She would — even though she didn't get the extra time to continue to watch my sisters, child and my dad grow older — give everything if it meant somebody else could get that opportunity," Victoria said. 

Those interested in giving can visit Brenda Eckstrom's donation page at danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/Brendas_Fight.