American Legion 509 in Port Washington named Pauline Dobish, 102, as the grand marshal of the annual Port Washington Memorial Day Parade, recognition for a lifetime that has included military duty in the Navy WAVES program, decades of community volunteering and continued advocacy for veterans well into her second century of life.
She was born in what was then known as Shady Side in North Bergen, N.J., grew up during the Great Depression in a household headed by her widowed mother. Her father, Joseph Mazurek, a Polish immigrant who came to the United States in 1913, died when she was 4 years old, leaving her mother, Anna Kolnierzec, to support six children by running a tavern.
Money was scarce, but Dobish remembers her childhood less for hardship than for ingenuity.
“I never felt deprived,” she said.
Without store-bought toys, she made paper dolls and created outfits for them from discarded neckties. By age 17, she was working in a Weehawken embroidery factory, taking physically demanding shifts because the pay — $12 a week — allowed her to contribute to the household while keeping a small amount for herself.
On her 21st birthday, Dobish enlisted in the WAVES, the Navy program formally known as Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. After training in New York and Oklahoma, where she earned a spot in the Honor Platoon, she was assigned to the Bureau of Yards and Docks in Washington.
As a Yeoman Second Class, Dobish worked as a statistical typist using specialized equipment that handled military records and reports.
“During the war, they needed the women to do the men’s desk work so the men were free to go to battle,” she said.
She remained in the Navy until January 1946, serving through the final years of the war and its aftermath.
After returning home, Dobish married John Dobish, raised two children and built a career that lasted three decades at the Hackensack Water Company. Outside work, she became known among family and friends for her Catholic faith and competitive baking.
Source: LI Press
