Emcee for the event, retired officer Mark Grose, began his comments saying Senter asked to be assigned to a southern post when he first started.
“He got that wish when he was assigned to South Bend on a south patrol,” Grose said.
Grose said in 1981 Senter started to prepare himself for a political career when he wrote a letter to the editor that got published in the South Bend Tribune. Grose said against his better judgment, he put his name on the letter as well. Apparently the district commander at the time didn’t see the humor in the published piece and proceeded to “chew him out’ as he had never been before. Luckily, Senter was out of town on vacation at the time and escaped hearing a lecture.
Grose said they wondered why Senter rarely sought out promotions. However, Senter said, “Why would I want to motivate people like me?”
The more serious moments of the evening came as Grose and others spoke about the number of difficult cases that Senter was involved with as an investigator. Those included the 1982 Pelley case that made national news. He was also instrumental in solving 70 meth cases.
Grose said,”Mark loved, loved the ISP.”
He presented Senter with an official retirement plaque that also held a picture of Senter. Not to be outdone, Senter looked at the picture and said, “There are more chins in that photo than there are in a Chinese phone book.”
Senter used the occasion to thank a number of fellow officers and also his family. Present at the party were his wife LeAnn and children Riley and Megan. He expressed his appreciation to his mother who had traveled from Speedway, Ind. along with his in-laws, his sister and their families.
Senter ended his portion of the program saying, “Thanks for the ride.”
As he has done on other occasions, Senter spoke of his father who was not able to be at the party. “I remember when my dad pinned my badge on my brand new uniform.”