From humble beginnings

Ava Gardner was born on Christmas Eve, 1922, in Brogden, a rural community seven miles east of Smithfield, NC. She was the youngest of seven children of Jonas and Mary Elizabeth (Molly) Gardner. The family was made up of made up of five daughters and two sons. When Ava was 2-years-old, her parents started operating a boarding house for teachers at the rural Brogden School. When Ava was 13, she along with her mother and Father moved to run a boarding house in Newport News, Virginia. Her father, Jonas Gardner died while they were there. Following her father's death, Ava and her mother Molly moved to the Rock Ridge community near Wilson, NC where her mother, again, operated a boarding house for teachers. Ava graduated from high school in Rock Ridge in 1939 and then after a year off she enrolled in the secretarial program at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, NC. During one fateful summer Ava visited with her older sister Beatrice, called "Bappie", and Bappie's husband, Larry Tarr in New York City. Tarr was a professional photographer at Tarr Studios and he took several series of photographs of the 17-year-old Ava. Larry displayed one of these photos in the window of his studio. At the suggestion of a Lowes/MGM employee Tarr sent Ava's photographs to MGM which led to her MGM screen test. Ava signed a movie contract with MGM in 1941. Sister Bappie went to Hollywood with Ava and assisted in the management of her career. Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, Ava met and married film star Mickey Rooney. The marriage lasted one year and a week. Her second husband was band leader Artie Shaw, one of the "swing era" greats. The marriage was also short-lived. Ava's third and last husband, and great love of her life, was singer Frank Sinatra. They were married in 1951 and divorced in 1956, unable to survive the pressure of their careers and their jealousy of each other. "People Magazine" classified Frank and Ava's marriage as one of the "romances of the century." Ava never remarried after her third marriage and she remained friends with all her ex-husbands. She had no children, but doted on all her nieces and nephews. At age 33, Ava moved to Madrid, Spain, where she remained for 8 years before moving to London, England, which was her home for 26 years prior to her death. During her years abroad, she returned to America often to continue her film career and to visit her family in Smithfield, NC. Ava's last public appearance in North Carolina was in 1978 at the Rock Ridge High School reunion, with North Carolina's Governor James B. Hunt, who is also a Rock Ridge High graduate. Her last visit in Smithfield was in May 1985. In 1986, she suffered a stroke. Ava never fully recovered her health following her stroke and she died of pneumonia on January 25, 1990. Ava Gardner is buried along side her parents and siblings at Sunset Memorial Park, in Smithfield, NC.