Cathy Jager

1952 - 2025

Cathy (Porter/Brooks) Jager, graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, who owned and operated the Eddington House Inn in North Bennington, Vermont, with her husband, Mark Jager, passed away on January 3, 2025, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

Cathy was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 31, 1952, and lived with her family in Wayland, Massachusetts, and later Sherborn, graduating in 1970 from Dover-Sherborn High School, where she excelled academically and played varsity sports. She also was assistant editor of the high school yearbook and secretary of the student council.

She graduated from Yale University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979.

Cathy served as a student volunteer with Harvard Defenders, one of the oldest and largest student-practice organizations at the law school, helping to provide pro-bono representation to low-income defendants in criminal show-cause hearings and assist with other legal issues.

Among her career pursuits, Cathy worked for the Boston law firm Palmer & Dodge, was an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County in Massachusetts, and served as corporate counsel and senior vice president with Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company, in Santa Barbara, California.

She and her husband bought the Eddington House Inn, a bed-and-breakfast, in 2015. Cathy's passions included the study of English and American history, early Christianity and detective novels. Her heart's home was her family and friends, scholarship, Massachusetts and dogs. She once raised golden retrievers.

In addition to her husband, Cathy is survived by her daughter, Amy Brooks, of Meriden, Connecticut, by her grandchildren, Aiden, Kira and Emma, and by her brother, William Porter, and his wife, Pamela Porter, of Hyannis, Massachusetts.