For Stephen Laudermilch, DVM, ’08 , and Elisabeth Laudermilch, ’07 , IWU shaped more than their careers. It shaped what they believe their lives are for.
High school sweethearts, they chose IWU for rigorous academics within a biblically grounded community where professors cared about who students were becoming, not just what they learned. “They cared about me,” Stephen recalled. “They cared about my soul.”
“They cared about me. They cared about my soul.”
Today, Stephen is a veterinarian at six veterinary clinics and leads Endless Mountains Veterinary Center in northeastern Pennsylvania and sees his work as a way to care for people by caring for their animals. He interviews every employee personally and treats staff and clients as people of God-given worth he is called to serve.
One appointment showed how far that calling reaches. A man arrived with his cat, then said the visit was not about the animal. He had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. “I know you are a Christian,” he said. “I need a team to pray for me, partner with me.”
The man had never heard Stephen preach. The way Stephen cared for people had already spoken.
Stephen said yes. He joined the small circle who prayed with the man and visited before and after surgery. That season, the man also reconciled with his son, who had walked away from his faith.
Source: 2025 IWU Economic Impact Report
As Stephen and Elisabeth raise seven children and continue investing in Christian education, they are passing along what they received at IWU: knowledge used to serve, a profession opened for ministry, faith practiced openly enough that a stranger knew where to look for hope.
Years after professors had shown Stephen they cared about his soul, a man walked into his practice, believing Stephen might care about his.
He was right, because the scent of Christ had long since reached beyond the walls of Stephen’s practice.
