Who is Emily, Sandra, Willi from The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories and what is their importance?

Emily is an older woman who must give a talk about Willi, the war hero, to a group of people interested in Norwegian things. She is an older middle-aged woman, whose grown daughter has come to stay with her. She wants her own life and seems happy to disappear into memories, though the memories of the story that she tells are bittersweet.