The following tribute to W.J. Cuddy, veteran newspaperman who died Wednesday, was read at the funeral services conducted Friday by Rev. G.W. Pettia of Seattle, who was a lifelong friend of the genial and beloved editorial writer.
BY BEN HUR LAMPMAN.
William J. Cuddy was born October 1, 1854, in Worcester, MS, At the age of 14 he became a printer's apprentice and there after his life was Identified with the making of newspapers, as printer, reporter and editor. In Omaha, in 1875, he married Miss Della May Nason, who survives him and to whom he made frequent and proud allusion in his latter years as "the wife of my youth", who still abides with me.' He came to the west in 1883, engaging in a newspaper venture at Caldwell, Idaho. Thirty-five years ago he became a member of The Oregonian staff. He died in service, the most beloved member of the staff and a newspaperman widely and fondly known throughout the northwest.
To Mr. and Mrs. Cuddy 12 children were born, eight of who are living. There are 20 grandchildren. W.J. Cuddy Jr. of Portland is the only surviving son. The daughters are: Mrs. Theodore Madsen, Salem, Or.; Mrs. Oscar Falkenberg, Burlington, Or.; Mrs. O. H. Peterson, Hillsboro, Or.; Mrs., Lillian Rodgers, Portland; Mrs. John Shopert, Portland; Mrs. C.P. Getzlaff, Priest River, Idaho, and Mrs. Arthur Abegg, Portland.
So much for the brief record of a gentle, kindly life, characterized always by its thoughtfulness for others, its pleasant humor, its breadth of human tolerance. He was known as Uncle Bill. What a depth of meaning lies in the homely, friendly name. Uncle Bill was one of those who live in a house by the side of the road, finding a companion in every wayfarer, a sigh for the sorrows of others and a ready joyfulness in their joy.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by--
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in scorner's seat
Or hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

A life that is lived in gentleness, and that acquires age as ripeness comes to a sound ear of corn, holds great significance for others. They may not take its example to themselves, casting out bitterness and envy, and smallness of thought, and petty malice, yet it compels their affection as surly as though some profound and loving law were in operation, as, indeed, it is. And they are the better for contact with such a life. They are the better for having known the man they knew as Uncle Bill.
His warmth of heart perpetually rebuked all who knew him. The word of censure or disparagement did not rise to his lips, for the reason that it was alien to them. And if some friend or acquaintance stepped aside from the straight so that his name was on every tongue, and shamefully, it was Uncle Bill who always said that there was good in the man despite the thing he had done. He would say: "Poor fellow! Now that's hard luck! I like that boy." And he would bend his head and brood upon the troubles of a world that should have none, stooped over the exchange desk, giving a moment to the sorrow of another. That was Uncle Bill.
And he had great faith in his friends. He believed always that they would go far, that the future held much in store for them. He was first to tell them, the young reporters, that they had written a good story, first to let them recall that the writing game was a glorious one and that there were no limits to its possibilities. "Why " he would say, "look at 0 Henry!" They were all potential 0 Henrys to him. And this as much as any other phase of his generous character, illustrates the utter lack of selfishness, which set him apart.
The printers upstairs in The Oregonian office, the staff and editors on the eighth floor, the members of the management and of the business office, the employees of the various departments, will miss Uncle Bill. He was one of them for so long a time, yet that doesn't explain it .He was dean of the news room, yet that is not the answer. The answer is that he was Uncle Bill.