Happy Birthday Sweetheart, I only wish we could be together today to celebrate what would have been your 23rd birthday. I love you and cry for you today and always. Miss you so much, can't wait to hug you again someday.
Love your big sister
Monique
So tender and so caring
With softness as a glow
Her heart is always singing
Wherever she does go
Within her soul such beauty
That's very plain to see
Always there beside you
She's treasured company
Flowers by the handful
Joy she always shows
Her tenderness awaits you
With love that overflows
Peace will always be there
With wings of love so fair
The beauty of her friendship
Is love that can't compare
In Loving Memory of Rosalynn Ethel "Roz" Dupuis
Age 9 years young
The above poem says more than I could ever put into words.
In order for you to know just how she was, you'd have to imagine the most innocent of children with the mannerisms of an angel. Rosalynn lived her life to the fullest and there wasn't a moment she didn't enjoy. To see
life through her eyes would be like looking through the eyes
of an angel. To me, she was an angel on earth and always will
be. I can still see her beautiful little face, enjoying all that life had to offer. Seems like a wonderful dream and thanks to an awful act of violence a dream is all it will ever be forever. Grab some kleenex, sit back and let
me tell you my story about "The Light of My Life."
When nobody in the world seems to like you and you're all alone, one friend can make a world of difference. Rosalynn was a small child when she moved next door to me and at first I didn't know what to think. I got to know her, took care of her a lot and grew to love her as a sister, even though there was about 6 years of age difference between us. We spent every waking moment together doing everything and sometimes nothing at all. Her mother sent her to a
French school (Ecole St. Paul) so she could speak French to
me and my family, even though her mother's family didn't speak
it at all. I tutored her nightly in her studies as her mother
couldn't help her since she didn't understand it. I remember
the countless hours we would spend on playing with our Barbies
and Cabbage Patch Kids. She had one Cabbage Patch Kid and his
name was Kenny Patch, she didn't remember his name so that is
what he was called. Her mother has that same doll to this day.
Nevertheless, we were practically inseperable growing up. Rosalynn and I were more than sisters, at least to me!
About a year or more before she went missing, Rosalynn and her
mother moved into town and then moved to Whitefish (the same town I had lived the first 3-1/2 years of my life)and I missed her very much. We lost
contact but saw each other once in a while. I can still
remember the last day I saw her, it was two weeks prior to her
abduction, we were having a yard sale. She was at my house telling me that her mom was
getting married and that she was surprising her by singing a
song at her wedding. She was going to sing "Everything I
Do...(I Do It For You)" at her mom's wedding. (which is why I chose it for the background music.) Rosalynn never
did sing for her mother, she went missing the weekend her
mother was to wed. Her short life was just starting, yet it
was over in a matter of a moment. She had so much left to give, but it ended all
too suddenly and abruptly.
On May 21, 1992 a beautiful life was ended and my life took a radical twist. What I didn't know was that Bernadette Dupuis,
(Rosalynn's mother) had called the night before wondering if she
had somehow made her way to where I lived at the time. That was in the
early morning of the tragic day that was to unfold. I had gone to school as usual because I didn't know what was going on at
all. My mother hadn't told me about the phone call in the
middle of the night because she knew it would upset me. So I
was at school like normal when my friend Tracy came up to me
and hugged me. When she gave me a hug, I knew that the inevitable
was true. I realized that something bad had happened to my sweet Rosalynn and I
started to sob uncontrollably. After school I took care of some kids and when I got home to where I was to babysit, my
mother was waiting for me. When I saw her I knew that
something was really wrong and that I had lost my "Rosalynn"
forever.
Many members of my family were in the search party looking
for Rosalynn that morning, I wasn't allowed to go, so I went
to school. When my mom told me they had found her, my life
just stopped. Her poor little tortured body was found tied to
a tree in the back of my Godmother's house. Her hands were
bound behind her head and she had been stabbed right through the heart several times, thank god she wasn't sexually assaulted that would have been so much worse. She was lying on the ground as the tree fell
over. They had found her bicycle on the side of my Godmother's
house but no murder weapon. Eventually a huge machete knife
that was around 8" long was found to be the weapon that was
used to execute my sweet little angel. Another thing that
really hurt me was the fact that the killer (Daryl Cowles) was someone I knew
and had went to elementary school with.
The days after her murder were confusing and somewhat of a
blur. The police came to our house a few times to talk with us
and that was hard at the time because they hadn't
had a suspect. I don't think I had cried so much in my entire
life then I had those days after Rosalynn went to heaven. I can still see the groups of people hudding together
crying at the wake service at the church. I was stuck in the
balcony, so far away from my sweet Rosalynn so hot and in so
much pain from the horrible loss. All I could see was her tiny white fabric
covered casket. Then there was her mother in tears after they
took her out of the church to the cemetary. She was cremated
and put in the ground with a beautiful plaque that was
donated. On her grave is a rosary and a teddy bear and of
course tonnes of stuff everyone left there. After the funeral,
I had no emtotions left in me and I wanted to die. I kept
blaming myself for her death and why this had happened to her
and to me.
After Rosalynn was gone I went through a very hard time in
my life. Depression set in and I crawled into a thick hard
shell and shut out the whole world. I wanted to die and I
didn't want anyone to love me or make me love them. Love in my
life always ended in tragedy so I was afraid to love again
because of what happened. I never realized just how deep I had
dug myself into a hole, it took many years to recover and
finally realize that her death wasn't my fault.
Losing someone
you love is never easy, especially when you feel so alone.
Nobody has to deal with all these emotions alone, there is
help, only I didn't let anyone help me.
Finally after many, many years, I accepted what happened and I tried my best to think happy thoughts. Now, all I can remember is her beautiful smile and that alone makes me smile. I remember her cute little sayings like "when I grow
up, I want to be just lit you Monit" that is how she said my
name, she couldn't pronounce her k's. I loved that little girl
as though she were my sister and she always will be in my
heart. I realize just how much of an ifluence I had on her and
I am so happy that she was so much like I am.
The anniversary
of Rosalynn's death is on May 21st. On that day and every day, please
remember missing children everywhere and pray for their safe
return. Not all stories have to be tragic like hers.
VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
Hon Floyd Laughren (Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister of Economics): There are few issues that strike to the heart of every person. One such issue is missing children. When a child goes missing, we are all affected. Every member feels that awful combination of sadness, anger and helpless frustration, the disbelief that this has happened once again. We all feel shock and horror when the body of a child is found and "missing" becomes "murdered."
Nine-year-old Rosalyn Dupuis lived in the small village of Whitefish, within the town of Walden. Early last Wednesday evening she was riding her bike to the local park to play with friends. She didn't make it.
By late Wednesday night, the news swept through my community. It seemed the impossible had happened. What we thought could never happen in our rural town was now reality.
Early Thursday morning, hundreds of residents of Walden and Sudbury turned out to search the bush for one of their own. One could only imagine the anguish felt by Rosalyn's parents. Sadly, the search was short and tragic. Rosalyn's body was found by midmorning.
Mr Speaker, I can tell you my community now feels a universal sense of loss. The Sudbury Regional Police and the OPP will do everything in their power to locate the perpetrator of this awful crime, but finding the killer of Rosalyn Dupuis will not return this little girl to her family. To them, we can only offer our deepest sympathy. There are, unfortunately, many more families like Rosalyn's. Most of these families do not even have the comfort of knowing where their children are or what happened to them. Without knowing, there is no resolution possible for these families. Their pain goes on.
Today, I'm wearing a green ribbon on my lapel. Green ribbons were worn by the friends of Kristen French during the agony of her abduction and murder earlier this spring. This symbol of solidarity with the families and friends of missing children has been adopted by Child Find International, an organization that works with families and police forces to assist in the location of missing children. I urge all members to support the Green Ribbon of Hope campaign.
