Dionne– Growing Up

‘I don’t care how stupid I look or what people may say. I just enjoy the laughter.” - Dionne

Dionne Warner has been fighting battles for most of her life. Growing up in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada in the 1970s did not always make for happy memories. Although there were many moments of fun and celebration, her private, day-to-day life with her parents and two younger brothers was often a roller coaster ride of jubilant highs and excruciatingly painful lows.

Those behind-closed-doors experiences helped shape Dionne as a person and provided her with markers by which to set her course in life. Through these struggles, she became stronger, smarter and more independent as she grew.

Dionne was born on October 7, 1965, to parents of Jamaican ancestry in Toronto, Canada’s most recognized city, set along the shores of Lake Ontario. She was smaller than average at six pounds, seven ounces and would keep a slight frame throughout her life. Her parents, Rupert and Pam Walford, named their daughter after the Ontario-born Dionne quintuplets, who in 1934 were the first quintuplets born in the world.

Rupert and Pam met in Kingston, Jamaica in 1961 and moved to Canada in 1964. Dionne came into the world the following year. Her brothers’ births were two and four years later. Rupert was an auto mechanic and Pam was employed at different office jobs as well as being a stay-at-home mom during various times of Dionne’s childhood. Dionne was in Grade 1 when the family moved to Mississauga, which was then a southwestern suburb of Toronto.

Young Dionne was a‘girlie girl’ who loved to dress up and participate in stereotypically female activities. She loved music and from age six on, was involved in tap, jazz and ballet classes. At age eight, she loved to draw, write poetry and collect poetry.

Dionne was also a‘mama’s girl’ who clung to her mother for everything and was doted on in return. While her brothers were involved in hockey, soccer, baseball and other sports, Dionne developed a love of fashion at an early age.“Every Saturday, after the boys played hockey, we went to the mall and I got a new outfit. So I’ve grown up that way,” Dionne explains.“I was never the sports girl. I played soccer for two years when I was 12 but I never felt confident enough in doing that. I was the only girl in our family, so those trips to the mall with my mother spoiling me were my treats.”

Dionne’s father remembers his daughter as being quiet and reserved as a child.“She made friends easily and loved to have her little girlfriends come over to set up doll houses and play with Barbies.”

Sylvia Kavanagh was eight when she met Dionne. The two have been friends ever since.“D