First Birthday in the Evening Telegram

The earliest known document in Loren Ekroth’s life is a photograph taken by Superior commercial photographer Millard Berg and published on page 10 of the Evening Telegram on February 28, 1936 — forty-five days after his first birthday on January 14, 1935. The caption reads: “Lauren Elton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elton Ekroth, celebrated his first birthday recently.”

The clipping establishes his legal given name as Lauren Elton Ekroth. “Lauren” was the spelling he used throughout childhood and young adulthood; the professional spelling “Loren” emerged later in his career, a common adjustment for men named Lauren in North American English. The middle name Elton honored his father, Elton Ekroth, who would go on to serve as Douglas County sheriff. The family was already visible enough in Superior civic life in 1936 that a first-birthday photograph made the paper — consistent with his father’s later public role.

Having a baby photo printed in the local newspaper was a marker of community standing, and the Millard Berg studio portrait suggests a family that invested in formal documentation of its milestones. This single image anchors Loren Ekroth’s birth year to 1935 — three years earlier than some later sources assumed — and confirms his legal full name, both of which ripple through the entire chronology of his life.