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

Hattie Benedict appears in the story, Wickedness. She is a young, inexperienced, schoolteacher, who is new to town. When the snowstorm sets in, she tries to protect two of her schoolchildren who cannot get home in time. Sadly, they die in the blizzard..... and she is both mentally and physically scarred for life, as she looses her feet in the blizzard.