Lori Rosso at the Voices of Hope for Aphasia offices in St. Petersburg. David Warner
Lori Rosso’s a familiar name to many Gulfportians. The former owner of the Sea Breeze Manor Inn, Lori was head of Gulfport’s chamber of commerce for many years before leaving to take the job of executive director at Ybor City’s chamber in 2016. Around that time, Cathy Salustri (now owner of The Gabber Newspaper) wrote a story about Lori for Creative Loafing, describing her as “a woman whose brain races with strategies and can juggle multiple game plans.”
The description rang true for anyone who knew Lori, including myself. I’d interviewed her for a Creative Loafing issue about Gulfport a few years before, and found her to be a candid, gregarious guide.
So it was a shock for me earlier this year to see Lori in an entirely different context — as an interviewee in a video made by Voices of Hope for Aphasia, a nonprofit organization in St. Petersburg that helps people living with aphasia, a language disorder most often caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, or brain tumor.
Having been out of touch with Lori since leaving CL, I had no idea that she’d had a stroke in December of 2022, or that it had left her with a language disorder. Although her brain was clearly racing as fast as ever, the video showed that she was not always able to find the words to express what she was thinking.
The Long Road Back
But she’s come a long way. We talked in person at the Voices of Hope offices in St. Pete this month, and while some words still escape her, she is back to being talkative, feisty Lori.
“I’ve always been the sort of person who’s like, ‘Let’s go!’” she says. But after the stroke, “I was like a mouse, I was scared. You don’t want to say anything.”
The programs at VOH provide opportunities for members “to practice communication with people traveling the same road,” says Executive Director Debbie Yones.
“Now, if I can’t find the word, I talk around it,” Lori says. And if she encounters someone who’s puzzled by what she’s saying, her attitude is, “I got a stroke. You got a problem?”
More than 500 members now take part in VOH programs, says Yones. With more than 23,000 people in the Tampa Bay area alone affected by the language disorder, VOH hopes to expand its capacity to help even more.
Word Play
It’s to that end that VOH is hosting Word Play, a night of word-game competitions, dinner, and opportunities to support VOH on Thurs., June 8, at Banquet Masters in Clearwater. The evening will celebrate the progress its members are making in regaining the power of words and will also feature a tribute to Tampa Bay’s own language maven, the late Merl Reagle, the nationally syndicated crossword puzzle constructor.
An estimated 2.5 million people in the U.S. live with aphasia. High-profile examples of people living with a language disorder include U.S. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania (due to a stroke), actor Bruce Willis (due to a form of dementia), and former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (due to a gun shot wound to the brain).
Word Play, a celebration of the joys and puzzlements of language, “will be a great way to honor the journey of Lori and other VOH members,” says Yones, “and the funds we raise will help others who are struggling with aphasia.”
Word Play Banquet Masters, corner of 49th Street North and Ulmerton Road, Clearwater. June 8, 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at wordplaytampabay.com.
