‘Local icon’ Captain Kirkconnell dies at 96
(CNS): Captain Eldon Kirkconnell, the founder of Kirk Freeport, a seafarer and former legislator, died Thursday, 8 June, just a few weeks short of his 97th birthday. The death of the “local icon”‘”, as he was described by several members of parliament, was announced Friday by the House Speaker Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, paving the way for tributes from today’s lawmakers to one who served through the 1960s.
See the tributes on CIGTV below:
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Category: Local News
RIP Capt. Eldon. Condolences to the immediate family Mrs. Pat, Gerry & Debbie and extended family.
He’s another of our generation who bridged the “wooden ships and iron men” and the present eras! Our society owes a debt to the legacies of such forefathers for the Cayman they gave us!
Such a shame that self-serving idiots like McKeeva Bush and his minions have systematically decimated those legacies by selling out Cayman!!
Cayman has nurtured an abnormal reverence for power and favour that rewards and shapes the composition and behavior of our parliament, pushes relentlessly for cruise ship berthing, crushes would-be competition, and widens profit margins for elites that have been printing money for decades. With a finger on the scale, anything was possible in those days…and the way they’ve designed it, still is for some time yet. This isn’t business shrewdness though, it’s something else. There is no proportional social benefit. No Kirkconnell wing at the hospital or art gallery. There isn’t a Kirkconnell mental health or addiction center, no parks or social endowment funds. Caymanians should learn the difference and expect more of their elites while they live, and after they pass on.
The same lame divisive argument that keeps rearing its ugly head. So you and other Caymanians and foreigners haven’t benefited from Kirk Shipping Lines, Kirk Marine, Kirk Home Centre (Servistar), Kirk Supermarket, Kirk Freeport, Bayshore Plaza, Napa Auto Parts, Chevrolet Car Dealership (Previously owned), and whatever other ventures the family built from the ground up that we all enjoy the convenience of today ? A lot of these people are not loud about their philanthropy and we live in a Free capitalist society, they are not obligated to handout anything to any of us if they chose not to.
But you concerned about the naming of a hospital wing or art gallery…. Go somewhere else with your pessimism and let the family/country mourn in peace.
Listen here 9:10. The Kirkconnell family gave the land for the Cayman Brac Faith Hospital and Nursing Home. They gave many of us jobs and worked hard every day to support their families and others. What are you giving back to your Community?
Captain Eldon is one of many of the great educated and hard working Caymanians who helped to build these islands and made them what they are today.
Those expats who come here and want to label our Caymanians uneducated and lazy – should read our history, on how the older generation worked so hard to develop these islands and make them a place where people want to come live here and make a living here.
Our Government needs to remember these people as well and do for our people and islands, just like they did, instead of what they can put in their pockets.
Perhaps local examples can be discussed in schools and their attributes exemplified so that others can aim to achieve.
Would be inspirational to have young people learn about locals who have achieved.
Yes, 10:00 am, then got a ton of money and land and sold it off, developed it etc etc. Jim, Selkirk, Rex, Naul and on and on.
Wow look at the thumbs down on this comment, especially given the last part. Just goes to show expats true sentiment of locals. Despeciable, no appreciation.
5:40, in the beginning, only a very few, Brackers mostly, worked hard to develop these islands in the way you describe.
My sincere condolences to the family of the late Captain Eldon. While he had retired and was ill for a number of years, the Cayman Islands have lost a stalwart citizen. Rest in peace Cap’n Eldon.
A son of the soil, a kind, honest and hardwork Caymanian gentleman.He was a successful businessman, politican, community leader and devoted family man. Sail ⛵️ on in peace Captain Eldon.
Kind, no, but he was a hardworking man who cared about Cayman and the Brac. I think he earned his golden star.
So sad for Cayman that the likes of Capt. Eldon, Mr Benson, Mr Norman , Capt Charles and their like, have been replaced by the corrupt, criminal, uneducated , unemployables we have to tolerate as “our leaders”.
A great man, RIP
This incredibly kind and thoughtful gentleman will be sadly missed by all who knew him. A Caymanian Icon, Rest in Peace!
Hoping for an explanation for the thumbs down on this post.
I gave mine as a result of the poster’s inability to correctly use upper and lower case letters.
Many of us Caymanians suffered at the hands of the merchant class in the early days. We don’t forget.
9.57…. It’s just tribal warfare between competing family interests of days gone by..