Girl Who Sent Message In A Bottle Honored On Long Island

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A special ceremony was held in Patchogue, Long Island Saturday to remember a young lady who left a special message in a bottle.

As WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported, there is a small bridge at the Beach Club in Patchogue, and mounted on the bridge is a plaque honoring Sidonie Fery, who died in an accident at the age of 18 in 2010.

"Be excellent to yourself, dude," the message on the plaque reads. "Even though someone may be very small, they may have a very big heart."

The words reference the 1989 movie "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure."

Sidonie was only 10 years old when she wrote the words, "Be excellent to yourself, dude," on piece of paper along with her family's Manhattan phone number, put it in a green bottle, and threw it into the ocean.

In December, workers cleaning up after Superstorm Sandy found the bottle, and give it to Sidonie's mother.

Sidonie threw the bottle into the Great South Bay two miles away from where it washed ashore.

"I came home and there was a message on the phone it says, 'Oh yeah we found a bottle on the beach.' I could not believe it was a message from my daughter who had passed away," Sidonie's mother, Mimi Fery, told 1010 WINS earlier this week. "I cannot tell you how unbelievable it is. I never changed my number. I've lived here since 1977. If I didn't have a landline I'd never get this call."

Fery visited the spot where the bottle was found and couldn't believe the note was still intact.

"They showed me where they found it among all this debris and it was incredible," told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera. "The lid is broken, I don't even know how water never got in there."

Sidonie and a 17-year-pold boy were both killed in April 2010, when they fell off a cliff at a Swiss boarding school, according to a New York Daily News report.

Described as a "very artistic and vivacious young woman," Fery said Sidonie always had an independent streak. She traveled by herself to visit relatives in Iran every summer, beginning when she was about 7 years old, her mother said.

"She always brought joy to everybody," said Mimi Fery. "No matter how she felt, she always made everybody else very happy."

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