Linda Kelshall, the long\u2011serving president, director and curator of the Chaguaramas Military History and Aerospace Museum, died Friday evening. Her death was announced by her daughter, Tricia Lee Kelshall Bynoe, though the exact age and circumstances have not been released publicly.<\/p>\n
Kelshall was the widow of the museum\u2019s founder, Lt Commander Gaylord Kelshall, a noted military historian. For decades she steered the institution, safeguarding Trinidad and Tobago\u2019s military heritage and keeping the founder\u2019s vision alive. The museum\u2019s collection documents centuries of local service and overseas participation.<\/p>\n
Beyond administration, Kelshall was the museum\u2019s most visible face. In 2018 she guided President Paula\u2011Mae Weekes through the exhibits and handed her a volume of books written by her late husband. She also sculpted a bust of Gaylord on the first anniversary of his death, creating the statue from memory without a mold or photograph.<\/p>\n
Kelshall\u2019s commitment extended into legal battles. In February and March 2025 she led opposition to the Chaguaramas Development Authority\u2019s attempt to reclaim the museum\u2019s property. After the gates were locked, she publicly defended the institution, and a High Court injunction later allowed the museum to return to its site.<\/p>\n
Today the museum, which displays uniforms, weapons, a World War I trench replica and a former BWIA aircraft, mourns the loss of its fiercest defender. Details of Kelshall\u2019s funeral remain pending, but her legacy as a guardian of national memory endures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Linda Kelshall, curator and defender of the Chaguaramas Military Museum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}