Who is Kathy Wade from In the Lake of the Woods and what is their importance?

Kathy Wade is the wife of John Wade. The story revolves around Kathy's disappearance one night and search for her. Her fate is never revealed and the reader is left to decide what happened to both Kathy and John. Kathy actually appears in only a brief section of the book with the rest of the information about Kathy being revealed through the comments of others.