1979 - Dionne Quintuplets' Father Dies

Published by The Gettysburg Times in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 16, 1979.

FATHER OF QUINTS DIES--Oliva Dionne, father of the Dionne quintuplets, died Thursday at his home in Corbeil, near North Bay, Ontario, at the age of 76. He is survived by his wife, Elzire, 70, and three of the five daughters. Photo shows Mr. Dionne, far right, with Monsignor Schultheiss and the quintuplets aboard New York's Staten Island ferry in 1961 [sic: 1951]. The daughters, left to right are Annette, Marie, Cécile, Yvonne and Émilie. The surviving daughters--Cécile, Annette and Yvonne--live near Montreal. (AP Laserphoto)

NORTH BAY, Ontario (AP) - Oliva Dionne, father of the Dionne quintuplets, died early Thursday at his home in Corbeil near North Bay. He was 76.

Family members said Dionne was not feeling well Wednesday night but he had not been in bad health. He had been living with his wife, Elzire, 70, in their modest bungalow near the farmhouse where the girls were born by the light of kerosene lamps.

Forty-five years ago, in the middle of the Depression, the birth of five identical sisters in the farmhouse made news around the world.

The May 28, 1934 births touched off a massive curiosity blitz that turned their sleepy hamlet into a circus filled with throngs wanting to see the babies.

The attending doctor, Allan Dafoe, basked in the limelight as the girls grew and their pictures were on the magazines everywhere.

But the shy Oliva Dionne at first shunned attention and friends said he was shaken and confused by the attending publicity crush that eventually caused the daughters to leave home for good.

He and his wife were billed as "The World's Most Famous Parents," and appeared on a vaudville show, deriving some money for their lack of privacy.

The surviving daughters--Cécile, Yvonne and Annette--live near Montreal.

Émilie died at the age of 19 [sic: 20] from suffocation during an epileptic seizure and Marie died in 1970, apparently of a blood clot in the brain.