GLYNDON, Minn. — You just know the students from Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton will sit around the kitchen table all weekend long, talking about the Friday noon meal at school.
We all know how popular lunch ladies are in our small town schools. But back in the 60s and 70s, one Glyndon, Minnesota, school cook stood out above the rest.
And that’s because Marvel Jones made the best homemade pizza burgers around. And at D-G-F on Friday, Sept. 25, they not only brought back the homemade specialty; they invited Jones back, too.
In the back kitchen of D-G-F on Friday, the food service staff was busy.
“I started this at 6 this morning, getting the mixture ready,” said Becca Knorr, D-G-F food services lead. “It is actually summer sausage, hamburger, oregano, spaghetti sauce…”
Assembling an old favorite: Marvel’s Pizza Burgers.
“It is very old school, we don’t get to do super fun stuff like this very often,” Knorr said.
Jones just turned 90 years old.
“It has been 50 years since I left here,” Jones said as she walked into the Glyndon school. “It is real emotional, I tell you.”
Her family arrived from all over the country for her 90th birthday and they all came to the school on Friday to see history made.
“I am sure it will look a lot different,” Shannon Nowak, food services director, said as she brought Jones into the kitchen.
“Oh my gosh, you guys are really going to town,” Jones said to the cooks.
In the 60s, 70s and early 80s, school lunch never came from a box.
“We made everything homemade, they ate good,” Jones said.
She even cooked homemade mashed potatoes.
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton food service staff prepared Marvel Jones’ famous homemade pizza burgers on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Glyndon, Minnesota.
Abby Makay / WDAY
When lunch time began, word was out. For the first time in decades, there were homemade pizza burgers on the menu. They flew off the serving table.
And on Friday, while wearing a hair net again, Jones stood in her school kitchen like she did from 1966 to 1981.
Even serving family who are still in the district.
“Oh ‘Hi, honey’ … this is my granddaughter,” Jones said.
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton food service staff prepare Marvel Jones’ famous homemade pizza burgers on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026.
Abby Makay / WDAY
What a memorable moment. Returning to a job she loved for years, serving a meal to the students again. Students who could not get enough of Marvel’s pizza burgers.
“I told the kids to thank the cooks,” Jones said after her shift.
The lunch lady nobody can forget.
“I am just blubbering today,'” Jones said after an emotional morning at the school.
Rolling out the red carpet for her, years after she left.
It’s what small towns do so well.
Marvel Jones, 90, returned to DGF schools after 50 years to help make her famous homemade pizza burgers, a school lunch favorite she made from 1966 to 1981.
Abby Makay / WDAY
“It was good, so good. I really enjoyed it. Here, I will take one,” Jones said.
The Recipe for Marvel Jones’ Pizza Burgers.
Abby Makay / WDAY
Ingredients:
2 lbs. hamburger, browned and drained½ lb. cervelat1 lb. shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeseOreganoTomato sauce
Directions:
Mix ingredients and spread on bun halves. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.
Kevin Wallevand has been a reporter at WDAY-TV since 1983. He is a native of Vining, Minnesota in Otter Tail County. His series and documentary work have brought him to Africa, Vietnam, Haiti, Kosovo, South America, Mongolia, Juarez,Mexico and the Middle East. He is an multiple Emmy and national Edward R. Murrow award recipient.
Reach Kevin at kwallevand@wday.com or 701-241-5317
