Surrounded by flowers and plants, a large gold-plated sculpture sits serenely along the main walkway near the entrance to Southdown Primary School. It’s been there for 50 years, but few, if any, of the hundreds who pass it by each day have any idea of who it honors or why it’s there.
The sculpture, which carries the name “Yellowbird,” was erected in honor of 12-year old Mary Ashley Zimmerman, a Southdown sixth grader who died after falling off a bicycle in June 1970. The tragedy stunned the community and saddened students and teachers at the school.
Dedication plaque for Southdown's Yellowbird sculpture.
Born in Bronxville on February 19, 1958, Ms. Zimmerman played the French horn in the Southdown School orchestra, sang in the glee club there and served as a bus monitor. The youngster was a very popular student and classmate.
At about 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 7, 1970, Ms. Zimmerman and her friend, Melanie Schneider, decided to go on what was described in a local newspaper article as a “pleasant afternoon bicycle ride.” They headed off, riding together on the same bike. Eventually they came upon a hilly section on Marie Drive, off Southdown Road, lost control of the bike and were thrown off of it. Ms. Zimmerman struck her head on the concrete pavement, sustaining a fractured skull.
The Huntington Community First Aid squad responded to the scene, administering oxygen to Ms. Zimmerman and transporting both girls to Huntington Hospital. While Ms. Schneider was treated and released with minor injuries, Ms. Zimmerman was pronounced dead by Dr. Beryl Rosenberg at 1:30 a.m. on Monday.
A prayer service was held at M.A. Connell Funeral Home and a funeral Mass was offered at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church before Ms. Zimmerman was interred at St. Patrick’s Cemetery.
In the weeks and months following the tragedy the Southdown School community resolved to create a lasting memorial in Ms. Zimmerman’s honor. The sculpture’s dedication ceremony drew a crowd of hundreds. Polaroid photographs of the dedication are among the items in the School Heritage Museum’s historical collection.
The Yellowbird sculpture is an impressive piece of artwork and has weathered the elements well over the past four-plus decades. A bronze plaque mounted on it contains the words of a poem by Nobel Prize winner Robert Frost.
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief.
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”
The daughter of James and Eileen Zimmerman, the Southdown School sixth grader was survived by three brothers and two sisters.