A DYNAMO DEPARTS: Vikki Caines, center, is shown with four executive directors, past and present, of the Princeton Recreation Department, three of whom she has worked for. From left are Ben Stentz (2010-21), Don Barr (1964-90), current director Evan Moorhead, and Jack Roberts (1990-2010).

By Anne Levin

At Princeton’s Department of Recreation, Vikki Caines’ title is customer service manager/administrative coordinator. But that barely describes the accomplishments of this 25-year employee, who is retiring at the end of this month.

In addition to being the public face of Community Pool since the new pool opened in 2012, Caines hired, trained, and supervised its customer service staff, working seven days a week in the summer. She oversaw the community gardens on John Street and Smoyer Park, and turned un-landscaped areas around the municipal complex into colorful gardens — on her own time.

There are the concert series she coordinated each summer at Community Park North Amphitheater, the annual Community Night Out event at the pool, the platform tennis program, and the adult fitness program, not to mention the many administrative roles she undertook.

“Vikki exemplifies everything that it means to be a great teammate,” wrote Evan Moorhead, executive director of the Recreation Department, in an email. “She has extremely high standards for excellence, and has been truly devoted to Princeton Recreation, her colleagues, and her community. Princeton has benefited in so many ways from her 25 years of service, and she will be greatly missed by both the public and her co-workers alike.”

In a phone interview, Caines said that it has all been part of giving back to the community where she raised her two daughters, Zabrina and Zalima Barazani. “I was involved in many things for the department, just trying to make it better,” she said. “When the new pool opened, my thought process was we have to keep this pool looking brand new. Most people thought I was the custodian. They had no idea I hired the staff and did lots of things.”

Caines was born in Trinidad. After migrating to the United States and graduating from college, completing a master gardener program in New York along the way, she moved to Princeton, where she had her daughters.

“When I first came here, I volunteered at the YWCA, and was on the board, and then served as board president,” she said. “Things changed in my life, and I had to go back to work. So, I worked at the Y for three years, under Marge Smith. She was a great friend to me.”

When Smith left, Caines figured it was time to move on. “The administration was changing. Marge, Phyllis Marchand, and Linda Meisel contacted me and said there was a position opening up at the Recreation Department. They were really on Jack Roberts, the director at the time, to hire me, which he did in 1998. I still have that letter, which I recently found. I told him I’d give 150 percent. And here I am, 25 years later.”

Caines is clearly proud of her daughters, who seem to have followed their mother’s accomplished footsteps. Zabrina graduated from the Lawrenceville School and Rollins College in Florida, where she still lives (and has a daughter). Zalima attended Solomon Schechter Day School in East Brunswick before graduating from the American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, N.C.; the University of Pennsylvania; and Johns Hopkins University.

“I raised them Jewish, and she wanted to continue her Jewish education, so she went to the American Hebrew Academy,” Haines said. “She was valedictorian for the Hebrew part [of the ceremony]. She taught in Harlem for a few years, then moved to California where she works for Apple.”

As her daughters left the nest, Caines got more involved in work at the Recreation Department. An avid gardener, she saw an opportunity around the municipal building. “I was looking at the trash that was around, and I decided to create all these little islands of gardens,” she said. A major focus was a garden named for late Princeton Township mayor Marchand, where Caines has been known to work on weeding and planting as late as 9 p.m. on some days.

“I named one for her because she was instrumental in my life,” Caines said. “She really helped me. I had no family here. She would come over here and have lunch with me. Before she passed, she said, ‘I hope you take care of this, because no one else will.’”

Another passion is platform tennis. Caines started a program with five women, and it quickly grew. “I just kept recruiting, and we went up to 35, and we only have four courts,” she said. “We’re still friends today. The program ended March 30, but they still play some pickup games.”

Having missed three years of visits to Trinidad because of the pandemic, Caines is planning to board a plane May 2 and spend a month visiting family. She has no worries about how to spend her free time once she returns to Princeton. “When I come back, I’ll be able to be with all my friends I didn’t have time to see while I was working,” she said. “I’ll play golf, tennis, and platform tennis. I’ll go into New York, go to the U.S. Open. I’ll get to see my grandchild.”

“Vikki is a dynamo,” said Ellen Gilbert, a Community Pool regular who got to know Caines well and wrote about her for Town Topics when she created the Marchand Meadow in 2011. “She’s the first person you see when the gate opens in the morning. She’s on top of everything.”