She supported herself, her widowed mother Kathryn Putty and two younger siblings[1] as a switchboard operator in her teens, before World War II, and learned to take dictation to improve her job prospects.

[5] From 1946 to 1948, she was a civilian employee of the United States Army, assigned to the Subsequent Proceedings trial at Nuremberg, to transcribe the testimony of twenty Nazi doctors and their assistants.

[7][9] She joined the University of Denver Holocaust Awareness Institute's Speakers Bureau, and toured as a lecturer, speaking to community groups about the Nuremberg trials.

[10] Vivien Putty married Ellis Spitz, a military police officer she met in Nuremberg.

[14] There is a collection of items donated by Spitz, including transcripts and photographs, in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives.