Benita Ruffin Buckley was born in Durham, North Carolina on October 10, 1980. She was the second child of Avon Long Ruffin and the late Benjamin S. Ruffin.  She was educated in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System graduating from West Forsyth High School in 1998.

Benita attended Hampton University where her major was Nursing.  She worked at several care facilities in Winston-Salem before moving to Blue Cross Blue Shield.  She worked for BCBS until her health began to decline.  Benita was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis in December 2006.

On July 6, 2013 Benita was united in holy matrimony to Willie Buckley.

During her time at home to keep herself busy, Benita enrolled in and completed an online degree in Liberal education at UNC-G which she received on May 10, 2019.  She was a Deans list student and received from the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement a Bronze Level Leadership Medal of which she was very proud.

Benita is survived by her mother, Avon; sister, April (Fred) Adams; nephew, Fred III; niece, Avary Adams; husband, Willie; and his sons, Willie Buckley, III and William A. Buckley; she is survived by a very special aunt and caregiver, Mary (Greg) Lowe; aunts and uncles, Carolyn Napoleon, Lillian (Charlie) Morgan, Thomas Long, George Long, and Ruth Long; one great-aunt, Idella Watkins; numerous cousins and close family who all remember our Holiday Celebrations.

For the past twelve years she has fought the good fight, never complaining but trusting in God through it all.  Her love, compassion, humor, and smile are already sorely missed by her family and friends.

Services for Benita will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2019 at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 1075 Shalimar Drive, Winston-Salem, NC.  Family visitation will begin at 1:00pm and the service will begin at 2:00pm with Reverend Prince R. Rivers, Union Baptist Church, Durham, NC eulogist.  Interment will follow in Evergreen Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The National Lupus Foundation or the National Kidney Foundation to aide in the research of these diseases.