Famous Quintuplet Born Before the Great Depression Dies at 91 Following Long Illness; Her Sister Survives Her

Cécile Dionne, one of the famed Dionne quintuplets, has passed away at the age of 91.

Her death was confirmed by family spokesperson Carlo Tarini, who said she died at a hospital in Montreal on Monday, July 28, as reported by The New York Times and The Canadian Press.

According to CBC News, Tarini said Cécile died following a long illness.

In a statement shared through her obituary, she was remembered as “a symbol of an era marked by wonder, controversy, and exploitation” who nonetheless “lived her life with quiet dignity, exemplary discretion, and gentle humour, despite the hardships of a childhood lived in the public eye.”

“She leaves behind family members, close friends, and countless Canadians who continue to remember with emotion the extraordinary story of the ‘Dionne quintuplets,’” the obituary added.

Born on May 28, 1934, in Corbeil, Ontario, Cécile and her sisters — Marie, Annette, Yvonne, and Émilie — gained worldwide attention as the first quintuplets known to survive infancy, according to CTV News.

At birth, the sisters weighed a combined 13.5 lbs., according to the Times. But in a candid interview on her 50th birthday, Cécile expressed the pain of their upbringing, saying she “resented everyone for the way we were brought up.”

“Because of the accident of birth, we were not considered people,” she said at the time.

As infants, the Ontario government removed the quintuplets from their family and placed them in what was described by the Press as “a nursery-style exhibition called Quintland,” which attracted millions of visitors.

Decades later, in 1998, the Province of Ontario issued a formal apology to the three surviving sisters and awarded them $4 million in compensation for their exploitation, CBC News reported.

In the 1930s, the Dionne sisters appeared in several films about their lives, including The Country Doctor (1936), Reunion (1936), and Five of a Kind (1938), as noted on IMDb.

Later in life, they helped establish the “Adopt-a-Child” campaign, an initiative that successfully placed 800 orphans into adoptive homes, according to the Dionne Quints Heritage Board.

Following Cécile’s passing, Annette remains the only surviving quintuplet. Émilie died in 1954, Marie in 1970, and Yvonne in 2001.

“The family extends heartfelt thanks to the medical staff who provided care and compassion during the last months of her life,” her obituary noted, according to CTV News. Her funeral will be held privately.