Dorothea Vik of Baldwin reveals her secret to living a long life

Longtime Baldwin resident Dorothea Vik, who recently turned 100 years old, has long believed in the friendly, good-neighbor policy.

Since her youth, Vik has consistently introduced herself to every new neighbor on her block for more than 90 years. Just ask Dawn Singh, who immediately felt welcomed when she moved next door to Vik 15 years ago.

“She was such a God-sent neighbor,” Singh said. “You hear a lot about neighbors — they don’t talk to you. But from Day One, it was great because it was welcoming. It was new for us.”

According to Vik, being friendly with people is vital to living a long life, validating this belief by recently celebrating her 100th birthday.

“You have to have an interest in things to have an interest in people,” Vik said.

Vik was born on July 14, 1924, to Norwegian parents Rasmus and Agnes Vik. Although born in the United States, she proudly displays her patriotism by flying both the flag of Norway and the United States in her front yard, and showcases her heritage inside with a small Norway pillow in her living room.

Before settling in Baldwin, her family called Roosevelt home, residing on Washington Street. They moved to Baldwin after her father, a builder, constructed their current home in the 1930s on Grand Terrace Avenue. She added that her father was integral to the Baldwin community, building homes throughout the area, including Singh’s next door.

“She used to tell me, ‘Your house, your lot, I used to park my car here because it was farmland,’” Singh said. “She is very proud of her father’s work of being a builder.”

Vik fondly recalled visiting her father at work, where he built homes, granting her unrestricted access to the interiors under construction, unseen by anyone else.

“My father didn’t let anybody go into the house,” she said. “We were able to go there all the time. He made some beautiful homes, especially the ones in Port Washington.”

Vik, however, followed a different career path than her father. After graduating from Baldwin High School in 1942, she worked at Chase Bank as a messenger in Manhattan for more than 40 years.

She said her graduating class was the first to hold graduation ceremonies outside on the football field, a tradition the school district has continued ever since.

“I was with the same people that I started kindergarten with,” she said, reminiscing about her early days attending the then Shubert Elementary School. “Everybody knew everybody, and it was such a wonderful class. We were very friendly and outgoing.”

One memory she vividly recalled as a student was when she and a group of her friends were told to bring their mothers to school to apologize to the principal for wearing slacks in the classroom.

“We were the first people that wore slacks to school,” she recalled. “There were 10 of us, and we had to bring our mothers to see the principal and apologize.

“Since then, now you can wear slacks,” she added.

In high school, she joined the track team with her friends from kindergarten, breaking barriers for women in sports along the way.

“They didn’t have any women runners, and it was something we did,” she said. “I was a great runner.”

Despite never marrying nor having children, she has family all throughout the country and was reunited to celebrate with them on the East End of Long Island the day before her birthday.

“I had a wonderful life,” Vik said. “Growing up was really wonderful — everybody was so friendly and knew everybody.”