It is not known how Viola Buettner's came to be spelled "Bitner" in the alumni records.

Viola Joanna Buettner was the daughter of Michael and Mary (Kartes) Buettner, German immigrants, who came to the United States in the 1880s, and became Naturalized Citizens. At the time of the 1900 Federal Census of Johnstown, Cambria County, the father was a baker, and Viola was 11, born in February 1889 in New Jersey. Her siblings, all younger than she, were Oliva, Mary, Vicktor, Sylvester, and Valentine.

Still in Johnstown in 1910, Viola's siblings are listed as Olivia, Maria C., Jacob V., Silvester G., Michael J., John V., Peter R., and Julius A. - Viola was employed as a stenographer at a dairy.

In 1920, Viola, a private nurse, lived with her family in Johnstown. Her siblings named in the census were Marie, Victor, Sylvester, Vincent, Ray, Joseph, Michael, Anthony and John. That year, Viola and her mother are also named on an immigration roster, traveling from Antwerp, Belgium to New York on the U. S. S. Lapland.

Viola is named in a 1922 history of the Pittsburgh Red Cross as a St. Francis nurse graduate who was "in active service with the American Expeditionary Forces and in the United States." The Department of Veterans Affairs Death File indicates that Viola "Buetner" was born on February 23, 1889, and died on April 27, 1974. She served in the U. S. Army Nurse Corps, from November 6, 1918 through October 22, 1919.

In 1930, Viola Buettner, 41, was a supervior at a clinic in Cleveland, Ohio - Cleveland Clinic. In the census, she was listed as the Head of Household. Living with her were her parents, Mike (written as Mark) and Mary, as well as her siblings, Victor J., Marie, Michel W., Peter A., and a niece, Theresea J.

In May 1931, according to newspaper reports, Viola Buettner had brought her "niece," Louise Gaudig, from Johnstown to Cleveland. Shortly after they arrived in Cleveland, Louise was out walking with a cousin, when she was shot in the head. She later died from her wounds at Cleveland Clinic where her aunt, Viola Buettner, was a night supervisor. It is not known how Louise was Viola's niece, since her parents were Herman Gaudig and Clara Lambert. The news articles are not entirely accurate, but Mrs. D. F. Desmond was Viola's sister, Olivia, and her daughter, "Olive" was the 16 year old with Louise at the time of the shooting.

Viola J. Buettner, born in Sayreville, New Jersey, died in Cleveland, Ohio; her residence was South Euclid. She is buried at Saint Marys Cemetery, Johnstown, Cambria County, where many other family members are also interred.