Who is Maxine Patch from A Year Down Yonder and what is their importance?

Patch is the postmistress who takes a liking to artist Arnold Green. As part of her seduction, she agrees to be painted nude by Green in Grandma Dowdel's attic. The large snake Grandma kept in the attic rafters to eat birds happened to fall on her while posing, and she ran out of the house naked, with a snake wrapped around her, causing her own humiliation.