Viola Ruffner

Who was Viola Ruffner?

Viola Knapp Ruffner was a schoolteacher and became the second wife of General Lewis Ruffner, a salt and coal mine owner and community leader in Kanawha County, West Virginia. She played a role in the personal development of Booker T. Washington, who worked in their household as a teenager after Emancipation. He credited her with teaching him the essentials of the Puritan ethic. She and the General supported his causes and they became lifelong friends. In his autobiography, Dr. Washington described Mrs. Ruffner as "one of the best friends I ever had."