One of five daughters, Buten attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls and worked as a secretary after completing school. Buten also graduated from the William Penn High School for Girls, where she was stated to be student vice president.
Buten, who was the oldest living Jewish at the time of her death, was active in Jewish matters during her life, according to her family, as well as being a member of many clubs and organisations.
She once worked at Elder Craftsmen (now closed), which provided the elderly artisans in Philadelphia a sales outlet for handmade goods. Buten once stated, "It is easy to give money, but the most important thing is to give of one’s self." She was also reported to have scored a hole-in-one in golf in her 70s in the 1970s.
Buten was also reported to enjoy being with her family, cooking her descendants' favourite things and regularly taking them out shopping.
It was also reported that despite her humble upbringing, Buten developed a taste for beautiful things such as china, crystal, silver, and antiques.
She lived with a home aide in the final years of her life, and was able to drive in her 90s. She also enjoyed gardening.
Buten originally claimed a birth date of 1 February 1899; however, her family later found a 1915 naturalization application for her father that stated that his daughter in question, Buten, had been born on 13 April 1899. In a separate event she was stated to have been born in 1901.
Another document appeared to indicate that the Buten family had migrated to the United States in 1904, and not 1903 as originally believed.
Buten was validated by the Gerontology Research Group on 8 September 2010. That same month, Buten passed away, at the age of 111 years, 164 days, on 24 September 2010 and was buried two days later. She was the 37th oldest living person at the time of her death, and the third verified person born in 1899 to die AFTER turning 111, the first being Bernardina Van Dommelen of Belgium (15 March 1899 - 16 April 2010, aged 111 years, 32 days).
She was also unofficially the oldest Jewish person at the time, taking it from German-Swiss supercentenarian Rosa Rein on 14 February 2010 upon the latter's death.
After Buten's death, the unofficial title of oldest living Jewish passed to Evelyn Kozak of New York, US. Kozak was added to GRG's Table E on 21 October 2010; her validators were named as Filipe Prista Lucas, Mark E. Muir, and an anonymous person.