Dewey Sheffield is a native of Wilson County and a graduate of two of Ava Gardner's alma maters, Rock Ridge High School and Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College). He also went on to attend Oak Ridge Military Institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A successful businessman in the insurance industry, Dewey has also been very involved in a wide variety of civic groups and organizations. His mother was a teacher at Rock Ridge High School in the years that Ava's mother worked at the school's teacherage and while Ava was older than Dewey, the two families were all close friends. Dewey has been a supporter and advocate of the Ava Gardner Museum, contributing his memories of Ava to museum projects over the years.
Ava Lavinia Gardner was born on December 24, 1922, in a community known as Grabtown near the town of Smithfield, North Carolina. According to Doris Rollins Cannon, author of the Ava Gardner biography…
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