The Home Front
In the early 1900s, J. C. Standridge courted Nettie Jane Hudson. In those horse and buggy days, the social rule on dating had to do with sunlight. Dating was to be done in the light of day, and the girl must be home before dark. One afternoon, time slipped away and the sun was setting quickly. Jane realized she was about to be guilty of a huge social blunder. She was not going to get home before dark, and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was going to be in mighty big trouble. 
“Are you gonna marry me or not? Because if you don’t, I’m gonna get a whippin’ when I get home?!” Jane exclaimed. Nuptials were held on November 8, 1914, and they were a very blessed couple, indeed. Birthing four boys in succession before J.C. suffered a severe mining accident on January 12, 1921. Their youngest baby was two days old at the time of the accident. J.C. passed away in 1925. Jane remarried Robert Hafley in 1927 and added a daughter to the mix. As a result, she became Granny Hafley to the Standridge family. When visiting her neat, quaint home with her yard full of flowers, you were always welcomed with open arms and the very best Southern home cooking.
Now Granny Hafley began working at Hayden High School in 1939, and the whole community came to call her Aunt Jane. She served hot lunches to the thirty students who brought canned goods from home for her to prepare. She served it up for ten cents a plate. The older girls helped by serving the plates and washing up the dishes. As the area grew, she fed more and more students, eventually serving as many as 500 students and faculty a day. As a result, more lunchroom workers came to work under Jane. A typical lunch might be butterbeans or peas, which were shelled by the lunchroom workers, fried okra, corn shucked by the lunchroom workers, corn bread, and cherry pie. But what Aunt Jane is forever known for is the lady who made the best rolls! To this day, when people find out my husband David is a great-grandson of Aunt Jane, people will speak of her with great fondness, tell us an Aunt Jane story, and with their mouths watering, ask us if we have the recipe for Aunt Jane’s rolls.
-Danna Standridge, Author of Happiness is Homemade Y’all! Meet her Saturday September 13, 2025 at the Celebrate the Family Expo. For speaking engagements and cooking demonstrations, email [email protected]. Join her in the kitchen on Facebook @DannaSwannStandridge and YouTube @dannastandridge8749.
Aunt Jane’s Rolls
*All recipes are written as Granny Hafley wrote them.
When making rolls, she would use 50 pounds of flour per day. For the very best rolls, she used lard; it rises better.
Ingredients:
- 50 lbs. flour
- 5 packages yeast
- ¾ cups sugar
- ½ cup salt
- ¾ cups shortening or lard
Instructions:
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix other ingredients together. Add enough warm water to make a soft dough. Let rise 1 hour. Bake at 450 degrees.
