The office of The Point, the student newspaper of Point Loma Nazarene Colege, was in an old building on campus called Cabrillo Hall. The building was once the home of Madame Kathrine Tingley, who built a campus for the theosophical society on a beautiful stretch of the Point Loma peninsula in 1900. Eventually this property was acquired by the Nazarenes and turned into a Christian liberal arts college. I attended college there from 1985 to 1987. During my second year there, I became editor of the paper.

I spent many late nights in Cabrillo Hall that year. Usually, I was with fellow staffers, but quite often I was alone.

Cabrillo Hall was a beautiful old building and I cherished it. It hadn’t been treated well by administrators or students, but it was still a building of sturdy character and elagant design. With age, it seemed to take on its own personality. And, reportedly, it was haunted by Madame Tingley herself.

My year as editor wasn’t always easy. I certainly had some good times, but there are also many emotional lows. I had also had a few run-ins with the school administration. By the end of the year, I was a bit disallusioned with my PLNC experience.

One night in Cabrillo Hall, I decided to pay poetic tribute to a building I felt certain would some day be torn down to make way for the school’s progress. The poem is called “Cabrillo Hall.”

Cabrillo Hall still stands, but in a different location on campus. Also, the wing that contained the newspaper’s office has been stripped away, so future historians will not be able to place a sign there that reads “Howard Owens slept here,” and many a night I did.