She was born June 21, 1912, in Centerville, Texas, the eighth of twelve children born to Jule and Emma Smith.
After completing high school in Centerville, she was married to Theopolis Walker. To this union, Jacqueline and James were born.
She later held a variety of positions primarily related to food preparation including hotel and restaurant cooking, chief cook at a private school, lead cook for the Lenten Luncheons held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and for 45 years the chief cook/dietician at Camp Capers, Waring, Texas.
She retired from Camp Capers in 1994 at the age of 82.
Viola was preceded in death by her parents Jule and Emma Smith, her son James Walker, and by her siblings: Alvie, Jim, Clayton, Joseph, Lois, Charlie, and Julius Smith; Ethel Fortson, Rossie Burns, Emma Lee McDaniel, Bernice Jones, and Iola Penson.
