Elizabeth “Betsy” Hobson Catlin, of East Montpelier, Vermont, lost a long battle with depression on December 27, 2015, at the age of 37. She was the daughter of Mark and “Charlie” Catlin. Betsy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1978 and raised in Montpelier, Vermont.

She grew up in Montpelier, where she started many of her lifelong passions: sports, ability with animals, and the environment. Participating in sports such as Pirates baseball and MHS lacrosse, she raised sheep and heifers with her siblings at the family farm.

An avid equestrian throughout life, she was introduced to horses by her mother and began her formal riding at Four Winds Farm in Barre. She received her first pony, Mozel Tov, on her eighth birthday. Over the years, she honed her skills with many notable Vermont trainers, competing on a national level as a junior rider.

On the completion of her junior rider years, she turned her interests toward a professional riding career. In addition to her own successes, she instructed a number of local students to wins at horse shows throughout the Northeast over a 20-year period.

In affiliation with Seery Hill in Andover and with the St. Lawrence University Riding program, Betsy further developed as a trainer. She was a major contributor to the success of the university’s back-to-back Intercollegiate Horse Show Association national championships in 2012 and 2013.

Her dedication to riding required a lot of travel and work, yet all the while she excelled in academia, graduating Montpelier High School as a valedictorian in 1996. She received many scholarships and matriculated to the University of Puget Sound in Washington State. There she completed a double major in philosophy and chemistry and graduated magna cum laude in 2001 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

During her college years, she took a year off to do atmospheric research studies abroad on an icebreaker off the coast of Alaska. After graduation, she began a PhD program in philosophy and then worked as a barn manager at St. Lawrence University. Betsy then chose to attend Vermont Law School, where her focus was on environmental law. She graduated summa cum laude and first in her class in 2008.

Betsy worked as a Supreme Court clerk for Justice Burgess before becoming an attorney at Dunkiel Saunders Elliott Raubvogel & Hand, a prominent environmental law firm in Burlington, in 2009. Betsy’s work as a lawyer resulted in the successful development of numerous green energy projects, including some of Vermont’s largest wind and solar facilities. Betsy was also responsible for preparing the Act 250 application for the Champlain Parkway on behalf of the city of Burlington. She continued to train horses, coach riders, and travel to horse shows.

She was on the Development Review Board for East Montpelier and sat on the board for the Vermont River Conservancy. She kept a farmhouse in East Montpelier where she cared for retired show horses from St. Lawrence University. In the summer, Betsy maintained a small vegetable garden, and during the winter liked to warm up her meals on the wood stove.

She had a wonderful connection to animals and loved her pets. She could often be found exercising her dog, walking trails and dirt roads, or cross-country skiing. Betsy was an avid reader and had an appreciation for going to the movies and listening to music.

Her quick wit and unwavering principles were hallmarks of her unique personality. Betsy developed lasting friendships wherever she spent time. She had a strong commitment to her family, often taking the lead to schedule and organize special events, and always acknowledging family achievements.

Betsy ultimately decided she did not fit in this world. The hole her absence leaves will forever go unfilled.

She is survived by her mother, Susan Hobson Catlin; father, Guy Mark Catlin; sister, Sarah Hobson Catlin; sister-in-law, Jennifer Lynn Willis; brother, Luke Hobson Catlin; sister-in-law, Emily Sarah von Trapp; niece, Lily von Trapp Catlin; and dog, Jelly.

There was a remembrance of her life on the second of January at the Old Meeting House in East Montpelier. In lieu of flowers, donations in her honor can be made to the Vermont River Conservancy or the Vermont Food Bank.