Who is Hattie Benedict from The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories and what is their importance?

Hattie Benedict is the schoolteacher in Wickedness. She is caring but young and inexperienced, new to the area. When the snowstorm occurs, she tries to protect two of her schoolchildren who cannot get home in time; when they die in the blizzard, she is scarred for life both mentally and physically, as she looses her feet in the blizzard.