Friends, family remember slain deaf bowler in Malden
MALDEN — Amid the sound of rolling bowling balls and falling pins, family and friends gathered at Town Line Luxury Lanes on Monday evening to remember Steve Vozzella, who was killed in the mass shooting last week in Maine.
Vozzella, a father of two, grew up in Massachusetts and brought his love for bowling and other games with him when he later moved to Maine.
The sounds of arcade machines and dance music also filled the bowling alley as the group of about 30 paused for a moment of silence to honor the 18 people killed in the shootings.
His family later held a private moment of silence for Vozzella.
His son, Andrew, said it was the perfect setting to honor his dad.
“This was my father’s favorite place to be,” Andrew Vozzella told reporters at the gathering.
Vozzella, 45, and three other men — Joshua Seal, Bryan MacFarlane, and Billy Brackett — all beloved members of Maine’s deaf community, were competing in a cornhole tournament for deaf participants at Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston when a gunman opened fire Wednesday night, killing them. Eighteen people died in the shootings at the bar and a nearby bowling alley.
The vigil for Vozzella, one of many gatherings and remembrances that have taken place in the days since the devastating attack, was organized by the president and vice president of the Greater Boston Deaf Bowling League, of which Vozzella was a member for 15 years.
“He was the heart of this,” said Micheal DuRossi, vice president of the league, through an American Sign Language interpreter.
DuRossi and league president Mark Macdonald led the group in the moment of silence, both wiping tears from their eyes.
“He was part of the family,” Macdonald said through an ASL interpreter.
Vozzella grew up in Chelsea and later lived in Malden while working as a mail carrier in South Boston, according to his friend, PJ O’Neil. Vozzella later moved to Maine and continued working as a mail carrier in the Lewiston area.
O’Neil said they first met as students at the Beverly School for the Deaf, now known as the Children’s Center for Communication.
“Family and friends were huge for him. They were everything to him,” O’Neil said.
Vozzella had recently married, said his brother-in-law, Jason Stepchuck, last week.
Friends and family at the vigil stood and hugged near posters displaying photos of Vozzella with loved ones. His first name was spelled out in masking tape on five big bowling balls.
Andrew Vozzella, Steve’s son, said his family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support in recent days.
“I know my father would love what’s going on here today,” he said. “I know deep down.”
An online fund-raiser for Vozzella’s family had raised nearly $18,500 as of Monday night.
Andrew Vozzella said the deaf community “is one family.”
“We support each other, we’ll be here for each other,” he said.
He said his father’s memory will live on each time his friends head out to bowl.
“I hope every time they go bowling and come here, they’ll do this for my father and remember everything my father did and all the good times they brought to him and he brought to them,” Andrew Vozzella said.