Welcome

Sam Kukich has a BS in Organizational Psychology from Christopher Newport University, a MA in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University, and is a graduate of the prestigious USDA Executive Leadership Program.

She is a US Army Veteran where she was selected as the first female to work for the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence.  Sam and her husband of 44 years raised two daughters while his military career took them to three foreign countries and numerous stateside assignments.  Upon her husband's retirement and settling in Poquoson, VA, Sam resumed her work career as an Instructional Systems Specialist and Project Manager for civilian corporations supporting the Department of Defense which required extensive world-wide travel.  She later accepted a US Government position with the Coast Guard where she provided training and management support to the Coast Guard as well as the Department of Homeland Defense.

In this capacity she was asked to lead a task force for the Joint Forces Command where she conducted an analysis and provided recommendations regarding the US Armed Forces Augmentee Program.  These assignments led to some exciting opportunities which included visiting numerous training facilities, living and traveling at sea aboard a US Coast Guard Cutter, observing and participating in military training to include qualifying with a number of military weapons, and parachuting with members of the 82nd Airborne Division.

in 2015 Sam and her husband moved her mother-in-law to Virginia in order to better care for her.  During the next four years while visiting her daily in several different facilities, Sam observed that the facilities not only failed to provide the level of care promised, but in many cases the elderly were being neglected and abused.  

Although retired and active in her church and community organizations she felt the need to call attention to the poor health care being provided to elders which resulted in her initiating the Dignity For The Aged advocacy organization.

Today Sam is using her skills and abilities to raise awareness through Dignity For The Aged to improve the lives of those in elder care facilities.  It is her belief that God put us on this earth to help others, and that we have a responsibility to act as advocates for those who cannot act for themselves.

We are glad to have Dora Mattucci joined Dignity to share her expertise as our Nonprofit Consultant.  She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree at Wayne State University, in Technical and Interdisciplinary Studies with a Minor in Nonprofit Sector Studies, as well as experience in Grant Writing, Marketing, Project Management. She also continued her studies at Central Michigan University with a focus in Administration.

She comes with a vast amount of experience in planning, marketing and hosting target audiences during her tenure in Real Estate, Nonprofit meetings, annual meetings, board meetings, and community events such as fundraisers, advocacy to Michigan House of Representatives, Hearings, Insurance Appeals, V-8 Gateway Collaborative Events, Neighborhood Groups, Banking Institutions, CRA Divisions and Chamber Business events.

During her nonprofit tenure, data was vital to understand and measure the growth and success in several endeavors.  As Executive Director, of the Community Development Corporation (CDC) of Warren, Dora helped to strengthen communities and improve the quality of life for Warren residents.  The CDC mobilized the community to help restore, revitalize and stabilize local neighborhoods.  Not only did Ms Mattucci work to build houses and improve the physical appearances of neighborhoods, but she also engaged residents in various community-building activities.  Ms. Mattucci was instrumental in attracting sponsors, hiring vendors, recruiting volunteers and promoting the event.  The 2005 Family Fun Day attracted nearly 500 participants.

Her experience in Leaps and Bounds Family Services established in 1988, assisted in results focusing on creative and collaborative action on the health, education, social and economic needs of at-risk children and families.  This included a family literacy center, adult education, GED preparation, Tutoring, Recreational Programs and English as a Second Language assistance. 

Ms Mattucci worked with the Detroit Local Initiative Support Corporation when they issued a funding opportunity for the Metro Detroit Regional Investment Initiative.  The project challenged organizations in inner-ring suburbs to work with Detroit agencies to develop solutions to shared barriers to economic and social vibrancy.  Eligible activities including physical revitalization along with social equity activities including race and cultural relations, policy advocacy asset building, workforce development, public safety, and social justice.  The project was developed to address the common needs of city and suburban residents and businesses.

Dora quickly stepped up to be a leader to bring the right organizations to the table.  She took responsibility for facilitating meetings to discuss potential projects and helped to develop a comprehensive and convincing grand proposal.  Under Dora’s guidance, CDCW became the lead agency and began the process of coordinating the activities of 14 partner agencies. 

Dora’s heart is in the right place and understands life is not always easy, as she grew up a foster child.  She has a large family, and her life has been quite unique which has allowed her to assist and coordinate many things for the betterment of all involved. She has been an entrepreneur in Housing, Senior Service, Community building, Nonprofit Executives and a Municipal and County employee.  In addition, she has for the past 17 years been consulting nonprofits and privately doing Macomb Community Case Management for the disadvantaged and disabled population. 

W. Lee Trolan earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration (Management) from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1978.  Upon graduating from college, he was commissioned a U.S. Army officer and served various assignments in the U.S. and overseas. His military background and proficiency was in air defense weapons, particularly surface-to-air missile systems.  In 1985, he left active duty to pursue a career in a Fortune 500 Company.  Over time, he was promoted to Assistant Vice President and managed a conglomerate of several company divisions consisting of many diverse professional staff in nuclear operations, transportation management & logistics, aviation safety, information systems and risk management programs.  As such, his line management responsibilities required him to independently develop and grow the division’s overall business base, maintain it’s financial plan, estimate / track costs, perform personnel supervision and conduct professional training.

Soon after the attacks on 9/11, he accepted a senior Federal position in the field of emergency management within the Executive Branch.  Essential Functions of Government was his forte.  He served several years enhancing that aspect of resilience and then transferred to the Legislative Branch  (reporting to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives) to further the Legislative Branch’s capabilities in this field, as well.  He spent another eight years in this role.  This tenure on Capitol Hill has given him a wealth of experience in successfully dealing with bureaucratic complacency and indifference.

Since 2016, retired and living in Williamsburg, Virginia, he has been active as a community volunteer.  He is also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. His focus within the Society is to elevate historical literacy, especially as it pertains to America’s founding. Concurrently, he is supporting the Commonwealth’s Chief Education Officer in developing educational school programs for the upcoming, 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War.  By teaching the story of our country’s founding principals, students will better understand their own important role in society and participate as informed citizens enhancing our Democracy.  

Of late, much of his time has been taken up acting as the power of attorney and primary caregiver for his declining, 96 year old father.  His father was a career U.S. Army officer retiring with 24 years of active duty.  He was also a renown nuclear health physicist and served for years as the Division Head of Health Physics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  This was followed by working more than a decade as a sought-after, independent consultant on National and International projects requiring his highly-specialized, nuclear safety expertise.  Finally, in professional retirement, he became well recognized as an award-winning watercolor painter, both regionally and locally.  Sadly, given a recent decline in his cognitive skills, this once brilliant man now resides in “Memory Care”.  

Mr. Trolan has seen, first-hand, the absence of engaged, forward-thinking creativeness from the administrative management and professional staff at retirement facilities.  This short-coming is exacerbated as their residents continue to suffer from diminishing skills and self-reliance.  Due to this, he has had to significantly increase his efforts, as his father’s advocate — to become more vigilant of and engaged with the retirement community’s quality of life issues for his father and it’s residents.  He is frustrated by the ever increasing costs, as it ironically coincides with the decline in the quality of amenities available to his father. This provides the personal impetuous for Mr. Trolan to lend his effort and support to this important organization — “Dignity for the Aged”.

Bob Kukich has more than 30 years experience in operations, plans, intelligence, and management in military and business sectors.  Educated in the United States and Europe in the principles of management, he possesses extensive experience managing the development, implementation and evaluation of management programs for military and civilian organizations. He has a BS in International Relations from Pennsylvania Military College and a MS in Human Resource Management from Golden Gate University.

He is a US Army (Retired) Lieutenant Colonel having served 22 years as both a Field Artillery and Foreign Area Officer.  His assignments include 10 years overseas in Italy, Germany and United Kingdom serving in positions of increasing responsibility and authority.  Of note he was the US Army’s Exchange Officer to the British Army’s Royal Army Educational Corps in Beaconsfield, England providing management consulting support services to all forces of the United Kingdom and he is a graduate of the Italian Army’s War College in Civitavecchia, Italy.

He retired from the US Army in 1992 at Fort Monroe Virginia, where he was serving as the Deputy Director for the Training and Analysis Directorate, Deputy Chief of Staff for Training,  US Army Training and Doctrine Command.  He then entered the civilian workforce as a Training and Management Analyst for a Small Disadvantaged Business supporting commercial and Government clients.

After one year, he was asked to take on additional responsibilities within the company’s Business Development Organization where he was successful in securing new work for the company with State, Federal and Commercial clients.  When the company merged with CSC, a large, 100,000 employee, world-wide provider of support services, he became the CSC Business Development Manager responsible for the CSC Training Center of Excellence, the position from which he retired in 2010.

From 2010 to present day, he has served in various charitable and social service organizations to include the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce; Hampton Roads Youth For Christ; Gathering of Men; Poquoson Kiwanis Club; Hampton Roads Small Business Initiative; Gideons; Member of Bethel Baptist Church of Yorktown, VA; and most recently Treasurer, Dignity for the Aged.  He is married to his wife of 48 years “Sam Kukich”, and they have two daughters.

Dr. Jeanne Darby Hubbard brings to Dignity a wealth of knowledge combining over 20 years professional experience in Communications and Project Management in Academia, Information Technology.   Dr. Hubbard's leads in her community as a volunteer through her church's music program and outreach activities in the local retirement communities and rehabilitation centers, as well as annual activities with adopt-a-spot, the Peninsula Food Bank, and the lighting of the Garden Club's Memory Tree.  Civically minded, she has recently been named the Head Election Official for the Central Absentee Ballot Precinct after serving as an election official for 15 years. Dr. Hubbard is a proud mother of three adults and priest's wife of 28 years, and she cares for her mother (87) in their home.  

Theodore Robert Reiff, MD received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with honors from Michigan State University and went on to receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine from New York University College of Medicine.

Dr. Reiff has served on the faculty at a number of medical schools, including the University of Southern California Medical School, the University of Nebraska School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the North Dakota School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, and the Eastern Virginia School of Medicine. His expertise is in gerontology and geriatric medicine, a field of study focusing on the health and needs of the elderly. Throughout his impressive career and after his retirement, Dr. Reiff has involved himself in advocacy activities for the disabled and handicapped. Beyond his interest in medicine, Dr. Reiff was a Deputy Sheriffin Grand Forks County, North Dakota and a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Dakota. 

Dr. Reiff has devoted many years to the study of war crimes committed by Nazi physicians during the Hitler period. He is the author of “It Can Happen Here,” a scholarly article that describes what he saw as some troubling similarities between a “cost containment” policy proposed by the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration and the “euthanasia” program of National Socialist Germany and “It is Happening Here,” a sequel to the first paper on cost containment policies in health care.

Dr. Reiff is the founding President of The National Genocide Education Project and Physicians Acting as Pro-Bono Patient Advocates (PAPPA). He is also a Scholar in Residence at Christopher Newport University and a friend and sponsor.

My name is Ashby Ambrose and I am a student at Poquoson High School. I learned about Dignity for the Aged through Sam Kukich, Executive Director of Dignity. I "adopted" Sam as my veteran for the Poquoson Veterans Project. I now volunteer for Dignity for the Aged as the webmaster. This is a new experience for me and I am still learning the ins and outs of websites.  I will be graduating in June of 2021 and will spend the next 4 years at Longwood University to earn a degree in elementary education.