Who is Genevieve Schoene from The Distant Land of My Father and what is their importance?

Genevieve Schoene is the wife of Joseph and the mother of Anna. She is born and raised in South Pasadena, California and meets Joseph when they are students at Vanderbilt University. She had never been comfortable in Shanghai and had always viewed it as a temporary residence. With the situation in Shanghai becoming increasingly dangerous, she and Anna move to California in early 1938 and settle in a South Pasadena house that her father had owned. Joseph is supposed to come to California as soon as he closes his business in Shanghai. While waiting for Joseph, she enrolls in bookkeeping courses. Her mother, who lives a few blocks away, is always there to watch Anna when Genevieve isn't home. Genevieve divorces Joseph. She never remarries and dies of leukemia in April 1955.