On the way home: A friend accompanies Mark Souder to one last baseball game

FORT WAYNE, Indiana (WANE) – During some of his 15 years as Northeast Indiana’s representative in Congress, Mark Souder’s district included portions of Elkhart County.

That’s how he met Vince Turner.

“When I was at the Bashor Children’s Home, he came and toured and wanted to see what we were doing and what our mission was,” Turner said.

“I’ve featured him at chamber events or community events that involve Elkhart County. And so we had this professional relationship.”

Turner’s introduction to Elkhart would be similar to a Fort Wayne introduction by someone like former Komets play-by-play legend Bob Chase.

It gave Souder a measure of instant credibility.

Turner has been the voice of almost every major radio sports moment in the Michigan area for years.

He stepped out of the broadcast limelight for a few years before Souder resigned in 2014.

“I just reached out to see how he was doing and it sparked a series of conversations that grew into a friendship.”

Which was mostly about Notre Dame and baseball.

When Souder was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2022, Turner wasn’t sure the pair (and their wives) would come to another game.

“We worked hard to make that happen,” Turner recalls.

Meanwhile, the pair had a friendly rivalry between Fort Wayne and South Bend.

“He kept saying, ‘I’m going to make it to a South Bend Cubs game,’ and he never quite could.

“So then the TinCaps had this opportunity when the Cubs came down there. And the first night we planned, it rained.

“He just said, ‘What are we going to do?’

“I said, ‘Mark, I’ve blocked every four days. Your friendship means that to me. We’ll definitely come down.’

“And we did.”

A month later, Souder would be placed in a hospice.

He died on September 26, 2022 at the age of 72.