Who is Mrs. Stubin from Wake and what is their importance?

Mrs. Stubin is an old blind woman that lives at the nursing home where Janie works. Janie gets into Mrs. Stubin's dream one night, which shows Mrs. Stubin was in love with a soldier that was due to be shipped off to war when Mrs. Stubin was younger. When Mrs. Stubin dies, she leaves Janie a letter and some money for college. The letter insinuates that Mrs. Stubin is also a "dream catcher" like Janie is. The letter also indicates to Janie that she can learn how to control the dreams, which sends Janie to conduct some research on interpreting and having better control of the dreams.