It wasn’t just Dr. Darcie Stolz’s academic skills that set her apart in her early 1980s veterinary class at University of Pennsylvania.It also was her gender.

Stolz, who retired in May, was the only woman in her class of 103 to specialize in large-animal treatment. She spent her career serving farms in Lancaster County and focusing on prevention, dairy health and production.

"My parents were my best and most ardent supporters. My local veterinarian at home also encouraged me. There were far more people trying to discourage me than encourage me. Both my high school guidance counselor and college adviser told me to forget veterinary medicine as a career.”

It was never easy, Stolz says — she bought her veterinary practice when her oldest child was just 2, and her first office was located in their Strasburg-area home.

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Recently retired veterinarian Darcie Stolz blazed a trail in Lancaster County