Cécile Dionne, one of the world’s fame Dionne quintules, died earlier this week after a long disease. She was 91 years old.
His death, in a Montreal hospital, was confirmed by Carlo Tarini, a former family spokesman and close friend.
The Dionne quintulets became a global feeling after their birth in a small loghyousse outside Corbeil, Ontario, on May 28, 1934. Born prematurely, it was believed that they were the first quintulets to survive last childhood.
The sisters were a source of fascination at a time when multiple births were rare, and their lives were not easy.
“A symbol of an era marked by wonder, controversy and exploitation, lived his life with a quiet dignity, exemplary discretion and a soft humor, despite the difficulties of an childhood lived in the public eye,” he read his obituary, shared by Tarini.
“Leave family members behind, close friends and innumerable Canadians who continue to remember with emotion the extraordinary story of the ‘Quintulets Dionne'”.
Cécile’s sister, Annette Dionne, is the lonely QuintupleT surviving.
The Ontario government eliminated the quintillizos of his family when they were only four months. The province considered that his parents were not suitable after accepting them at the Chicago World Fair (although they later changed their minds).
In government care, the sisters moved to a special nursery and an observatory called Quintland, with visualization times scheduled for the public.
In Quintland, the girls were treated by a team of nurses and were exhibited for thousands of curious tourists.
According to Tarini, the sisters attracted more than six million visitors between 1934 and 1943.
“Sometimes, up to 6,000 people per day would pass. This allowed the construction of a road of several lanes to reach deep forests in northern Ontario,” he said, adding that “they helped create a tourism industry of hotels and accommodations that still exists today.”
Tarini said quintulets were “more popular as a tourist attraction” than Niagara cataracts.
The parents of the girls, Oliva and Elizire Dionne, won them when they were nine years after a bitter battle of custody, although their experience with them was also difficult. In past interviews, some of the sisters claimed that their father was abusive.
In 1998, the three surviving sisters received an apology and a $ 4 million agreement of the Ontario government for their role in the mismanagement of a fiduciary fund for supporting them.
‘A true fighter’
In a 2017 interview with CBC, while fighting to preserve his childhood home, Cécile reflected on the challenges faced by the quintuplets.
“We went through many things,” he said, explaining that although Annette and Annette have some good memories of Quintland, it was not a way for children to grow.
“We don’t feel free,” he said. “It is not normal for a human to be observed all the time.”
Tarini considered that Cécile was “a surviving Dionne sisters leader” and highlighted his dedication to the struggle for justice.
“She talked about the suffering they had to endure,” he said.
Tarini drew a parallel among the quintuple of Dionne and the Kardashian sisters. While the quintuplets were pushed into the public, he noticed that the Kardashians have actively adopted the attention of the media.
“[Cécile] Once he told me: ‘I don’t understand this Kardashian family. When I was young, I never wanted attention. I wanted them to leave me alone, I was allowed to live a normal life, ‘”said Tarini.
But he added that Cécile managed to do it in her last years because she was a “true fighter.”
