Frank Sinatra this week was laid to rest in California. Isnít it also time to lay to rest some of the rumors about Sinatra that have been circulating on the local scene for years?

Letís get right to the main one: that Sinatra came to Ava Gardnerís funeral in Smithfieldís Sunset Memorial Park on January 29, 1990. It didnít happen, folks.

But I was there when the rumor mill started grinding, and once it got going.... Well, we all know the nature of rumors, especially in regard to the rich and famous.

Around 3,000 persons passed by Ava Gardnerís closed coffin in Underwood Funeral Home in Smithfield the night before her funeral, and about 500 attended the graveside service in Sunset Memorial Park. Before the service began, a light rain fell from gray skies, and umbrellas were opened. Someone standing next to me commented that it was like the opening scene in ìThe Barefoot Contessa,î the movie in which Ava starred as Maria Vargas, a beautiful woman who had everything except what she wanted most: a lasting relationship with a man she loved. Then a limousine pulled into the cemetery and parked on the driveway behind the crowd. Someone walked up and said, ìThat has to be Frank Sinatra. I walked by the limosine, and it looks like there are bodyguards in there.î

Many others at the scene came to the same conclusion, even without trying to peer into the limousineís dusky windows, and a buzz went through the crowd.

The funeral for the great love of Frank Sinatraís life was brief and simple - the way Ava had wanted it. At the end of the funeral, the sun broke through the clouds and umbrellas were closed. The astonishingly beautiful girl who grew up in a brilliant, loving family in a rural community near Smithfield had come full circle. Her body was gently lowered into a spot in the Gardner family plot.

And it was soon revealed that a hairdresser from Fayetteville had come to the funeral in the limousine.

Frank Sinatra was not there, and even if it had been possible for him to make the trip, he probably would have stayed away in order to keep the service from turning into a circus. He did send a massive arrangement of flowers, which was ordered from Twiggís Flowers and Gifts, which Barbara Twigg operates out of her home off Highway 301 South in Smithfield. The order was placed by Sinatraís secretary, Susan Reynolds, who forwarded her bossís request that the card read: ìWith my love, Francis.î

Sinatraís name was Francis Albert, and Ava often called him Francis. Mrs. Twigg said the Sinatra order was the largest sheíd ever filled, and she wishes now that she had kept the check as a souvenir. She did make a copy of it, but that has been misplaced. The flowers sent by Sinatra, and everyone else, were stripped from Avaís grave by souvenir-seekers. Later, one of those folks sent a small flower from the Sinatra arrangement to the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield. It was an anonymous donation.

There was also a rumor that Sinatra, Mickey Rooney (who was Avaís first husband), and one of Sinatraís good friends had checked into a local motel. At the time, one of those fellows was in a hospital in California, so there you are.

Kenneth Baker, director of Underwood Funeral Home in Smithfield, said he was in on everything pertaining to the funeral from beginning to end, and Sinatra did not come to Smithfield in the middle of the night or any other time. ìFrank is like Elvis,î he said. ìHeís been seen everywhere.î

Sinatra did not come to Smithfield during his marriage to Ava, but he did attend a family gathering at the Winston-Salem home of Avaís sister, Myra Pearce.

Another rumor spurred on by the tabloids is that Sinatra supported Ava financially during her final years. Not true. Ava had plenty of money of her own. She had an astute business manager. She lived in a luxury apartment in London, England. She asked for no alimony from either of her three ex-husbands, which is probably one of the reasons they all remained on good terms throughout her life.

However, Avaís older sister, Bappie, said Sinatra offered to charter a specially equipped jet to bring Ava from London to Los Angeles after she suffered a stroke in the mid-1980s. The plane would have a hospital bed and provide Ava much more comfort and care than a commercial flight. (It is not known if the offer was accepted.) Bappie also said Sinatra sent a limousine to take Ava to her physical therapy sessions after she arrived at Bappieís home in Los Angeles.

During a visit to the Ava Gardner Museum, when it was located in Avaís native community at Brogden east of Smithfield, Bappie said Sinatra sent Ava a beautiful floral arrangement on her birthday, December 24, throughout the years. The bouquet would remain in her bedroom for a year. The blossoms and leaves would wither and die, but the bouquet stayed in place until a fresh one was sent by the man who never came to Smithfield, but always occupied the No. 1 place in Avaís heart.

Reprinted with the permission of the Smithfield Selma Sun, Selma, North Carolina.