Annie Viola Walker Whitted McKendree was born on August 23, 1880, at Horse Creek, about 3 miles west of Arcadia, in what was then Manatee County (now DeSoto), Florida. She was the daughter of Oliver Asbury Walker, who had served in the Civil War, and Sarah Adeline Baccus-Head. She was the only girl in a family of 9 children. The family remained in the Arcadia area until around 1895, when they relocated to Englewood. Six months later, they moved to Sarasota. In a handwritten memoir she wrote around 1958, Viola described Sarasota at that time (around 1896) as having no doctors (the nearest doctors were in Bradenton and the nearest hospital was in Tampa), no banks, and no fishing village.

Viola married her first husband, Allen Whitted, on December 23, 1900, at Bradenton (then called "Bradentown"). They were founding members of the first Church of Christ at Oneco, Florida, and were baptized there on October 23, 1904. The family made their home at Saw Grass Valley in Oneco, and had 9 children: Walter, Ruby, Belden, Clyde, Ila, Floyd, Mae, Murray, and Allene. Allen passed away in 1919. She married her second husband, George Thomas McKendree, Sr., on November 3, 1920, also in Bradenton. They had two children: George, Jr., and Christine. In the late 1920s, the family moved to Sulphur Springs north of Tampa, possibly to help care for George's ill father. By 1935 the family had returned to Sarasota, and by 1940 they were again residing at Oneco.

Viola passed away on November 17, 1960, at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, survived by her husband George, five daughters, seven sons, 29 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren. She is buried at Rosemary Cemetery in Sarasota between Allen and George. She was a member of the Church of Christ and was a true pioneer resident of Sarasota, having lived there for about 60 years. She is also recognized by the Florida State Genealogical Society as a settler and builder of the State of Florida and as a pioneer of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties.