In the late hours of Friday 17, 2020, Thérèse Tanguay-Dion popularly known as Maman Dion passed away at the old age of 92 after months of battling serious health issues, according to US reports.
Thérèse’s eldest child Claudette Dion revealed last year that her mother had been dealing with significant health problems which includes memory loss, loss of vision and hearing impairment.
She was born Marie-Thérèse Tanguary, at the Gaspé Peninsula, in Saint-Bernard-des-Lacs, Quebec on 20 March 1927 and was raised in La Tuque, Canada with her parents. She went onto marry Adhémar-Charles Dion and the couple settled in Charlamagne in the 1950s, raising their 14 children (including the sensational singer, Céline Dion)
In her lifetime, she served as the host of a cooking show for Canadian-French language channel TVA, later launching her own line of dishes called “Pates de Maman Dion”. She also launched a foundation to provide school clothes and supplies to underprivileged children in Quebec. Thérèse played a major role in the success of her daughter, Céline. She played the violin while her husband played the accordion inciting the love of music to the music.
It is reported that Thérèse wrote Céline’s first song, “It Was Only A Dream,” sending the cassette of its recording to Canadian music producer Rene Angelil in January 1981. It was Thérèse’s hope that Rene mentored her talented daughter. Céline would later marry Rene in 1994.
As tributes role in, Quebec Premier Francois has referred her as “a remarkable woman, so generous, so loving, who devoted her entire life to the well-being of her family.” He also added, “Our greater Quebec family weeps at her departure.”
Thérèse is survived by 32 grandchildren, 48 great-grandchildren and maybe great-great-grandmother to six others.
