T H E S C H O O L’ S N E W H A L L , C A L I F O R N I A , CAMPUS IN 1962. YOU CAN SEE THE P O O L – LO C AT E D I N T H E S A M E S P OT I T I S T O D AY – N E A R T H E P H OT O ’ S B OT T O M - L E F T C O R N E R .
THE MOVE T O Newhall EDITOR’S NOTE
After years of leadership turnover and hard struggle, a stabilizing force arrived in 1959: Dr. John R. Dunkin. The school had been in existence for 32 years when Dunkin
to describe it. I shared it with the other members of the board, and they didn't know where it was for the most part. But at any rate, eventually we came out and looked at it.
was named president, and he served in the role for the next 26. One challenge the school faced at the time was finding a location that would allow it to grow. Back then, it was located on 1/3 of an acre in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood in East Los Angeles. The school had considerable debt and no funds to purchase property. However, that didn’t keep people like Dunkin from praying that the Lord would provide. Dunkin recounts the way in which the Lord answered these prayers in a sermon he preached in 1993, “The History of The Master’s College.” Dunkin starts by telling how he came to hear of 27 acres in Newhall, California. This plot of land – which once served as Happy Jack’s Dude Ranch – now makes up a portion of TMU’s 95-acre campus. DUNKIN
One day, a dear brother phoned me and he said, “We've got it. It's in Newhall.” I said, “Where is that?” He began 21
The M U S T A N G C O N N E C T I O N
After looking at it, we went up to what is now Cal Islands. It was Tip’s restaurant back then. And we met there and we said, “Well now, how shall we proceed? … How would it be if we pass around a sheet of paper, and each one of us will write down the most money we believe we could raise to buy the campus?” So we sat there and we pondered, and the paper went around and came back with a total of $9,000 that we thought we could raise. The number was far short of what would be needed. One of the men leaned over to me and said, “Doc, I guess that's it.” We all sat there sort of stunned. And finally Dr. Irving Penberthy, a board member, said, “I don't think this is right. I think we ought to go ahead.” Another man said, “So you mean, in spite of the fact that we've only dreamed up $9,000 – we don't have $9,000, we're just thinking that we might be able to reach a total of $9,000.” “No,” Dr. Penberthy said. “I
