The Miracle & Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets
Page 32
“two by two”: Brough, We Were Five, 165.
“The feeling is as deep”: Brough, We Were Five, 165–66.
“Nobody had thought fit”: Brough, We Were Five, 167.
“We had been raised”: Brough, We Were Five, 168.
“represented a riddle”: Brough, We Were Five, 169.
“sequestered”: Brough, We Were Five, 175.
“That is absolutely false”: Soucy, 213.
“Oh,…And I had hoped”: Soucy, 214.
“sparkling eyes and an attractive smile”: Soucy, 215.
“The first few times I met her”: Robert J. Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets: From Loneliness to Love,” Redbook, September 1958.
“From the smile on her face”: Brough, We Were Five, 175.
“Annette says good-bye” and “So in my next letter I put down”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“spic and span”: Brough, We Were Five, 176.
“Someone is expecting you”: Soucy, 221.
“Finally Cécile walked out”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“Are you afraid to be alone”: Brough, We Were Five, 177.
“I fell in love”: Annette Dionne with Frank Rasky, “I’m Out of the Cocoon,” The Canadian, June 3, 1967.
“She was a famous celebrity,” “I thought I wasn’t able to love,” and “I thought my life had harmed me”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“Being in love with him”: Dionne with Rasky, “I’m Out of the Cocoon.”
CHAPTER 36
“I don’t know what to do with it”: “Boys? Million Dollars?”
“I didn’t know a nickel from a quarter”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 89.
“enjoy and occupy”: Brough, We Were Five, 184.
“a time of profound stirring”: Brough, We Were Five, 190.
“special delight”: Brough, We Were Five, 191.
“out of the question”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 142.
“Something had changed”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 130.
“a kind of sanctuary”: Brough, We Were Five, 196.
“We hoped to spend the holiday together”: Brough, We Were Five, 196.
PAPA DIONNE DECLARES QUINTS: “Papa Dionne Declares Quints Ignored Family at Christmas,” Toronto Star, December 27, 1955.
“put the name Dionne back”: John Keasler, “Dionne Quints and Their Troubles,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 8, 1956.
“We were not surprised,” “We did send one,” “We suspected that outsiders,” and “Don’t believe it!”: ‘ “It’s Not True,’ Sobs Quint,” Ottawa Journal, December 27, 1955.
“They love their family”: “Quints Now ‘Having Fun’ on Their Own,” Des Moines Register, December 29, 1955.
“My father is upstairs”: Keasler, “Dionne Quints and Their Troubles.”
“Silence simply was not a sufficient response”: Brough, We Were Five, 199.
“It was awful”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“blinking like owls”: Brough, We Were Five, 202.
“shaken and weary”: Brough, We Were Five, 203.
“a misunderstanding somewhere”: “Quints ‘Happy’ as Rift Healed,” North Bay Nugget, December 31, 1955.
“There was a feeling of tension”: Berton, The Dionne Years, 202.
“There was absolutely no strain”: Peter Dunlop, “Quints All Smiles; Papa Happy, Relaxed as Hatchet Buried,” Toronto Star, December 31, 1955.
“Why did you talk to the newspapers”: Brough, We Were Five, 204; see also Soucy, 251.
“without flinching”: Brough, We Were Five, 204.
“half hoped there would be an accident”: Brough, We Were Five, 202.
“We could have said much more”: Brough, We Were Five, 204.
“There had never been a day like this”: Brough, We Were Five, 204.
CHAPTER 37
“So few doors seemed to stand open”: Brough, We Were Five, 191.
“turned down flat” and “Whatever happens, I intend to go ahead”: Brough, We Were Five, 209.
“It was a wonderful adventure”: Brough, We Were Five, 212.
“too thrilled to complain”: Brough, We Were Five, 213.
“She was not the same person”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“refused to prosper”: Brough, We Were Five, 219.
“bitter blow”: Brough, We Were Five, 220.
“She was very discouraged”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 133.
“The experiment was worth”: Brough, We Were Five, 220.
“I think the first thing”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
This time…I’ll get it right: Tesher, The Dionnes, 189.
“Blazing flashbulbs lit up the altar”: Frank Teskey, “Cecile Dionne Wed, Trousseau Worth $10,000,” Toronto Star, November 23, 1957.
“I thought that all would be fixed”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 190.
“to become the most suburban of housewives”: Brough, We Were Five, 236.
“To Annette, that is a very real luxury”: Marie Grebenc, “Life No Bed of Roses for ‘The Poor Quints,’ ” Arizona Republic, June 12, 1969.
“was blooming”: George Dewan, “Surviving Dionnes Still Seek an Elusive Privacy,” Indianapolis Star, May 13, 1984.
“Nothing has made me so happy”: Levin, “Two Dionne Quintuplets.”
“shook with sobs of exhaustion and joy” and “How marvelous it is”: Brough, We Were Five, 240.
“bright and gay as a bird”: Brough, We Were Five, 242.
“She asked for little more”: Brough, We Were Five, 189.
“very bashful, having no confidence in herself” and “I don’t think I was ever good enough”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 174.
“It shaped me”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 165.
“I don’t want to think about ‘little Yvonne’ ”: Yvonne Dionne, interviewed in Full Circle.
“I want to go forward”: Yvonne Dionne, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“They just tell you it’s not your place”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 177.
“I worked a lot on myself” and “Just like someone needs food”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 179.
CHAPTER 38
“Such bitterness”: Vaun Wilmott, “Dionnes ‘Bitterly Resentful’ Recalls Quints’ Nurse,” Toronto Star, September 19, 1963.
“There are two sides to every story”: “ ‘True, True, True,’ Says Marie; Quintuplets’ Story ‘Full of Lies’ Says a Shocked Papa Dionne,” Ottawa Journal, September 19, 1963.
“certain inaccuracies discovered in the text”: “It’s Not for Canada: Publishers Withdraw Book on Quints,” Toronto Globe, March 13, 1951.
“For Canada, the book is too true”: “Book on Dionne Quints Disputed,” San Bernardino County Sun, April 16, 1951.
“We have no intention.”: “ ‘True, True, True,’ says Marie.”
“This is just like the old days”: Bob Lewis, “Papa Hurt, ‘Sad,’ ” Ottawa Citizen, September 19, 1963.
“Father’s reaction was violent”: “ ‘True, True, True,’ says Marie.”
“That book really hurt them”: Berton, The Dionne Years, 208.
“most impolite and harsh”: Berton, The Dionne Years, 204.
“Everything we said”: “Dionne Quints Tell of Childhood: ‘The Saddest Home We Ever Knew,’ ” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), September 19, 1963. (Note: This article misattributes the quote to Annette. However, all others indicate Marie as the speaker. See, for instance, “Dionne Blasts Story Quints Were Unhappy,” Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1963.)
“a sensitive and accurate account”: Dionne with Rasky, “Annette Dionne Today.”
“You would
n’t know my wife now”: “ ‘True, True, True,’ says Marie.”
“People think that we are perfect”: Annette Dionne, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“Now when I look back”: Genia Goelz, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“I cannot talk of him”: Grebenc, “Life No Bed of Roses.”
“I didn’t know anything about the world”: Cécile Dionne, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“It takes a lot of patience and courage”: Grebenc, “Life No Bed of Roses.”
“I saw some parallels”: Bertrand Langlois, interviewed in Full Circle.
“Yvonne was my parent for me”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 181–182.
“kind but very reserved”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 134.
“deeply worried about both her physical condition”: Marie Grebenc, “Four Surviving Dionnes Are Near Their 35th Birthday,” Pittsburgh Press, May 25, 1969.
“I knew that she had been treated”: Cécile Dionne, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“It’s over”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 139.
“I would have given anything”: Marie Grebenc, “Sorrow of Sister’s Funeral Fails to Heal Dionne Family Wounds,” Pittsburgh Press, March 8, 1970.
“the gravitational center for the Dionne sisters”: Grebenc, “Life No Bed of Roses.”
“If more want to move in”: “Happiness for Dionnes Is Being Together,” Detroit Free Press, December 27, 1965.
“My husband thought he was married to three women”: Annette Dionne, interviewed in Full Circle.
“After the sisters came”: Dewan, “Surviving Dionnes Still Seek an Elusive Privacy.”
“I was working all the time”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 155.
“Finally I got fed up”: Berton, The Dionne Years, 211.
“Oliva Dionne was not the plodding”: “Oliva Dionne’s Quiet Funeral Contrasts with Hectic Days as Quintuplets’ Father,” North Bay Nugget, November 15, 1979.
“Mom said if our father was dead”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 207.
“Her great love for her family”: C. M. Fellman, “Their Million Dollar Birthday,” Orlando Sentinel, May 22, 1955.
“I felt badly when Mom died”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 157.
“I would have liked that she asked for us”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 184.
“I declare that I have made no provision”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 92–93.
CHAPTER 39
“all the normal needs”: David Croll radio broadcast in Miracle Babies.
“particularly lavish”: Berton, The Dionne Years, 211.
“I had no choice”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 187.
“I had a feeling”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 248.
“My mother was struggling” and “I think it’s more disgusting”: Bertrand Langlois, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“every plate of fish and chips”: Valverde, 127.
“Mom would tell us on August 27”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 87.
“It’s beginning to seem”: Genia Goelz, interviewed in Miracle Babies.
“It was a moral obligation”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 285.
“We were a scientific curiosity”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 266.
“your concern and request”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 270.
“I keep my promises”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 270.
“It’s nowhere near what’s owed”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 80.
“the three quints will be dead”: “Harris Against Dionne Inquiry,” Toronto Globe, February 20, 1998.
“Every network, local news stations”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 283.
“It is very painful for us”: Daniel Girard and Joel Ruimy, “Province Won’t Raise Its Offer, Premier Says,” Toronto Star, February 27, 1998.
“looking like a grinch”: Richard Mackie, “The Quints Versus the Premier,” Toronto Globe, March 4, 1998.
Why Has Mike Harris Stiffed the Quints?: Allan Fotheringham, “Why Has Mike Harris Stiffed the Quints?” Maclean’s, March 9, 1998.
“stolen our souls”: Depalma, “St. Bruno Journal.”
“It was an emotional meeting”: Mike Harris in Full Circle.
“So far as money is concerned”: Edwards, “The Quint Question.”
“I haven’t given much thought,” “I’m relieved,” and “Happy is a big word”: Brenda Branswell, “Quest for Truth,” Maclean’s, March 23, 1998.
“We feel they are looking down at us”: O’Neil and Sotynoff, “Sisters Triumphant.”
EPILOGUE
“Welcome home”: Carolyn Samuel, “Dionne Visit Creates New Memories,” North Bay Nugget, May 23, 1998.
“It’s difficult to describe right now”: John Size and Carolyn Samuel, “Dionnes Arrive for Busy Weekend,” North Bay Nugget, May 22, 1998.
“smiling and gushing like schoolgirls”: Keith Howell and Caroyln Samuel, “Quints Make Royal Homecoming,” North Bay Nugget, May 23, 1998.
“They were not just smiling to be polite”: Keith Howell, “Quint Homecoming a New Start,” North Bay Nugget, May 25, 1998.
“Media was very close to us”: Samuel, “Dionne Visit Creates New Memories.”
“Without you,…our voices”: Howell and Samuel, “Quints Make Royal Homecoming.”
“We were the children”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 301.
“This is overwhelming”: Howell, “Quint Homecoming a New Start.”
“You will always be close to our hearts”: Howell, “Quint Homecoming a New Start.”
“opening the door on my youth”: Howell and Samuel, “Quints Make Royal Homecoming.”
“I have no more wounds”: Annette Dionne, interviewed in Full Circle.
AFTERWORD
“I knew she would never feel secure enough”: Tesher, The Dionnes, 296.
“At my age it’s difficult”: Marian Scott, “Dionne Quint Penniless, 18 Years After Ontario Settled with 3 Sisters for $4 Million,” Montreal Gazette, October 23, 2016.
“When I realize that I start to miss her”: Sidhartha Banerjee, “As They Turn 83, Surviving Dionne Quintuplets Seek Protections for Children,” Montreal Gazette, May 26, 2017.
“I thank God often to have Cécile”: Annette Dionne, interview with Vanessa Lee, CTV News, May 26, 2017. http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1133815.
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