“It was a big fighter”: Cécile Dionne, Dionne quintuplets, died at 91 years old

One of the famous quintupées Dionne, Cécile Dionne, died at the age of 91. According to her death notice, Ms. Dionne made the soul on Monday following a long illness.

Born May 28, 1934 in Corbeil, Ontario, Cécile and her sisters caused a sensation worldwide to birth. Journalists made the foot of crane in front of their family farm, south of North Bayto see if at least one of the premature babies would live more than a few days.

Against all expectations, and possibly for a first in history, the five sisters have survived until adulthood.

In her necrology, Cécile Dionne is described as a Emblematic figure of an era marked by fascination, controversy and exploitation, which has gone through his life with exemplary discretion, remarkable dignity and discreet humor, despite the trials of a childhood lived under the spotlight.

Relatives are in shock

Carlo Tarini, who has known the Dionne family since 1998 and acted as his spokesperson, was turned upside down by the news. Cécile was a good friend. We spoke punctually. It’s a great sadness that drives mehe testifies.

Cécile Dionne had been at the hospital for several months. She contracted the Covid twice, but still came out. His death is not attributable to COVVID, but it is certainly a state of health that had deteriorated in recent years, in the last monthshe said.

According to him, it was one of the strongest sisters of the quintuplets.

It was the group leader. It was not only a survivor, she was a big fighter. Until the end, she demonstrated an admirable strength.

The Treasury of Ontario and Canada

The Dionne sisters were born during the great depression in a house where there was no electricity or running water. Their survival then marked the imagination of the population of Ontario, Canada, but also around the world.

A thematic park called Quintland even opened to highlight their history even before places like Disneyland do not exist.

Between 1934 and 1943, more than 6 million visitors moved from everywhere through the planet to come and see these children miracles indicate Carlo Tarini. Five identical little girls, very pretty, identically dressed. They could be seen in representation three times a day.

The tourist attraction was at the time more popular than the Niagara falls.

Sometimes there were up to 6,000 people a day who passed them. It allowed the construction of a highway of several lanes to go to the depths of the woods in northern Ontario. They have helped create a tourist industry for hotels and accommodation that still exists today.

At their peak, the five -time represented an asset estimated at $ 500 million for the government of Ontario, indicates the necrology of Cécile Dionne.

A reputation that weighs

Although the popularity of the Dionne quintuplets has enabled them to travel and meet celebrities, she has so far away from their family.

This exploitation of the miracle of their birth was very bad for the health of the family unit. Their parents have been removed from their five children to exhibit behind a fence with a two -track mirror that only outside people can see themrecalls Mr. Tarini.

Cécile told me several times that she would have gone from all this celebrity. Like her twin sisters, she would have preferred to live a life that one could say normal and ordinary.

Years later, Cécile Dionne was the one who campaigned the most for compensation from the province, which the sisters finally received in March 1998. While they were still babies, the government took the children under her custody and made them real circus animals Quintland.

It was she who insisted that the government of Ontario recognizes what had happened. She was carrying in her the memory of an overwhelming era. She embodied him with dignity, with lucidity he admires.

Carlo Tarini hopes that his death reminds the population of the treatment reserved for the quintuplets.

These women will have marked our collective memory everywhere in Canada and around the world. They really touched a stratum of the population which is aging today, but which followed their history

Over the years, several historians have also looked at the impact of Franco-Ontarian identity in their history.

Some historians have said that if they had been of English -speaking origin, the government of Ontario would never be allowed to remove them from their parents’ care to exhibit them as a tourist attraction. At that time, there were linguistic tensionsreports Mr. Tarini.

Cécile Dionne leaves behind her sister Annette Dionne and now joins her other sisters Émilie, Marie and Yvonne. The family provides for intimate funerals.