A Joplin native’s lifelong collection of minerals and rocks has been donated to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum, expanding the pieces that can be displayed and studied.

Ava Gager Smith, a 1957 graduate of Joplin High School, died in May at the age of 85 in Springfield, where she had lived for more than 20 years. In 1960, she married Robert Smith. She obtained a scholarship to college because of her mineral knowledge at that time and he became a lawyer. They lived in several places over the years until they settled in Springfield. He died several years ago. ×

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