Cécile Dionne, one of the famous Dionne quintuplets, died this week at the age of 91, her family announced.
Dionne was one of the survivors of the clan, along with her sister Annette, who is now the last one still alive. Dionne died after a long illness, the family said in a statement released late Thursday evening.
“An emblematic figure of an era marked by fascination, controversy and exploitation, she lived her life with exemplary discretion, remarkable dignity and understated humor, despite the trials of a childhood spent in the spotlight,” the statement reads.
The funeral will be held privately, the family said.
The Dionne Quintuplets were born prematurely on May 28, 1934, near the village of Corbeil, Ontario, just south of North Bay.
Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie Dionne became stars from the moment they were born. Their survival is considered a medical miracle; at the time, they were the only quintuplets to have survived more than a few days.
Several people tried to take advantage of their celebrity, including the Ontario government, which placed them under provincial guardianship to make them a tourist attraction for the first nine years of their lives.
The girls were unable to live with their families at home or play with other children. A hospital was built near the family homestead, where nurses and teachers cared for the quintuplets.
Two of the quintuplets died young. Emily succumbed to an epileptic seizure at the age of 20, while Marie died at 36 after a blood clot formed in her brain.
In the 1990s, the three survivors and their heirs received financial compensation from the Ontario government for mismanaging their trust, which was then under the guardianship of Queen’s Park. They received $4 million in compensation from the province.
The Dionne twins’ birthplace in North Bay has become a museum where you can learn more about the quintuplets’ lives.
In 2018, Ottawa designated the birth of the Dionne twins as a national historic event.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
