Roll Call Tribute

Dolores Mae (Krajicek) Little Penk, PhD 

February 19, 1932 - September 23, 2022 

Dolores Mae Krajicek was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 19, 1932.

Her mother was Marie Ann (nee Stenho) and her father, Charles Krajicek, and her youngest sister is Kathleen Riha. Dolores attended Catholic elementary schools, then South High School in Omaha, receiving scholarships to complete her undergraduate BA degree at Duchesne College in Omaha. She married John Little who was serving in the US Air Force, who, completing military service, continued his studies at The University of Kentucky. There, Dolores was awarded an MA degree in Psychology, including training at the Lexington VA Medical Center, as she studied Rehabilitation at The University of Kentucky Medical School with Ernst Jokl, MD. As John Little continued his doctorate in Biology at Texas A&M University, Dolores raised four children—Judith Little, John Little, George Little, and Thomas Little. But, Dolores’s life changed dramatically, when her husband unexpectedly died from heart disease in 1970 just as he began to work for NASA.

Dolores was among the first women to begin training at Texas A&M, graduating with her PhD in 1973, specializing in career counseling for Women, as Women began to be admitted to Texas A&M. Such experiences—Psychology, Rehabilitation, adding career development for Women--characterized Dolores’s life, as she joined Veterans Health Administration in Department of Veterans Affairs, as Women increasingly pursued careers to serve Veterans leaving US Military.

Starting in 1974, after a year teaching Psychology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Dolores was the first Woman to hold the position of Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the VA medical center in Dallas, overseeing training for nurses and physicians from Southwestern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Dallas, Texas.

By 1980, the VA selected Dolores to train in its Associate Medical Center Director’s program, working at the Audie Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. She then served as Associate Medical Center Director for VA medical centers in Big Spring, Texas (1982-1984); Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts (1984-1988); Providence VA, Rhode Island (1988-1991) and Loma Linda VA in Loma Linda, California. She completed her VA career, in Boston, retiring in 1997, centering on career development for Women in the Veterans Administration.

Dr. Little's area of specialty included design and development of health care systems to provide trauma-related services through psychosocial rehabilitation for veterans in recovery, training for physicians and nurses, and educational interventions accompanying medical care. Having specialized in preparing the first Women to enter Texas A&M, Dolores led VA administration to develop resources for Women Veterans, as more Women began to serve in US Military and transitioned to work as Veterans.

Dr. Little married Walter Penk, PhD, in 1985, a VA Psychologist specializing in diagnosis and treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And, while both Dr. Little and Dr. Penk always worked in different VA medical centers, they were able to conduct studies on PTSD, writing scientific articles, as well as books and chapters on psychosocial rehabilitation. Retired, Dr. Little and Dr. Penk moved to New Braunfels, Texas in 2004, continuing to consult in delivery of psychosocial rehabilitation, under contract with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans, as well as affiliations with Texas A&M School of Medicine. Examples of collaboration for Dr. Little and Dr. Penk are included in Ainspan & Penk (2008), Returning Wars' Wounded, Wounded, and Ill (Praeger); Ainspan & Penk (2012) When the Warrior Returns (Naval Institute Press); Ainspan, Bryan, & Penk (2016) Handbook of Psychosocial Rehabilitation for Veterans and Service Members (Oxford University Press); and Second Edition of Moore & Penk (2018) Treating PTSD Among Military Personnel (Guilford Press). Theme persisting in Little-Penk studies included Rehabilitation for US Military and US Veterans as they continually confront new problems to solve as they mature across their life span, facing new challenges, as we all grow and mature.

Dr. Little completed her 90 years of life’s work that began in 1932 in Omaha, and finished in New Braunfels in September 23, 2022. She was delighted with all the accomplishments of her children (three Aggies, Judith, John, and George, and one Rice undergraduate, Thomas) and her grandchildren, Babette, Rochelle, and Matthew, as all pursue their careers, teaching Dolores’s youngest granddaughter, Mary—in spirit of what the Viennese neuroanatomist Sigmund Freud inspired for us all in 1921 “No other technique for the conduct of life attaches the individual so much to reality as laying emphasis on work, for work at least gives one a secure place in a portion of reality in the human community.”