Polish immigrant helped settle other refugees

Regina Malczycki Dobbins, who helped settle Polish refugees with Catholic Relief Services, died March 18. She was 80.

During World War II, Dobbins and her family emigrated from Poland after surviving Nazi work camps. Catholic Relief Services and the Mark Skorcz family helped them settle in Sheridan. She and her family did farm work to earn money, eventually moving to Little Rock. She graduated from Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. She attended Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Mo., and was fluent in five languages. She was a parishioner at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock.

Some of her accolades included working as a hostess at U.N. headquarters in New York, a Red Cross volunteer and a volunteer for Catholic Relief Services settling Polish refugees in the United States in 1983 and a volunteer substitute teacher for physical education classes at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in the 1970s.

She retired from the Arkansas Worker’s Compensation Commission after 15 years as a file claims examiner.

She is survived by her husband Neil Dobbins; two sons, Alan H. Dobbins and William N. Dobbins; one brother, Igor Malczycki; and two grandchildren.

A visitation and rosary was held March 20 and a Mass of Christian burial March 21 at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Msgr. Allen Trust and Development Fund for Holy Souls School.

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