Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Gatens, Judge William N. March 20, 1867 - January 13, 1927 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com and June 30, 2006, 1:09 am Author: Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Volume II, Pages 206-208 JUDGE WILLIAM N. GATENS. One usually associates firmness, austerity and aloofness with the title of judge. The entire career of Judge William N. Gatens was the antithesis of those qualities. While firm in his support of the right, he was earnest, generous, kindly, and was constantly extending a helping hand to uplift a fellow traveler on the journey of life. It was this that made Judge Gatens not only esteemed but loved by all with whom he came in contact, and it was this that won him a large following among republican friends while he was a supporter of the democratic party, and it was this following that placed him upon the bench as the only democratic representative of the circuit court in Portland. Judge Gatens was a native son of this city and was fifty-nine years of age when called to his final rest. He was born March 20, 1867, a son of Frank and Anna (Fitzpatrick) Gatens, who were natives of Ireland. It was in the year 1857 that Frank Gatens came to Portland, where for many years he conducted a wholesale business. He was regarded as one of the leading residents of the city in the early days and was widely known as “Honest” Frank Gatens, possessing those qualities which also found expression in the life of his son. Judge Gatens acquired his early education in the Portland schools and later attended St. Michael’s College of this city, while in preparation for his professional career he entered the University of Oregon, from which he was graduated with the class of 1894. He immediately entered upon the active practice of law and his progress was continuous. Advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, yet no dreary novitiate awaited him. He soon gave demonstration of his capability to successfully handle important legal problems. His mind was naturally analytical, logical and inductive, and combined with this he had that “human touch” which enabled him to understand his fellowmen and the motives that prompted their actions. Moreover, he believed in the spark of good in each individual and it was always his purpose when possible to fan this spark into a flame. A recognition of his ability led to his appointment to the position of deputy district attorney in 1902 under George E. Chamberlain and he filled the office in an acceptable manner for two years. When Mr. Chamberlain became governor he appointed his former deputy to the office of secretary, and one of the last official acts of Mr. Chamberlain ere he left the governor’s office to become United States senator was to appoint William Gatens as judge of the Multnomah circuit court when Department No. 5 was created by the legislature. Mr. Gatens went upon the bench in February, 1909, presiding over a court of general jurisdiction, and high endorsement of his service came to him in a reelection in 1910 and again in 1916, so that he remained upon the bench until 1922, occupying at times the unique distinction of being the only democratic representative of the circuit court. His decisions were strictly fair and impartial and yet there was something more in his legal opinions. They were shot through and through with that spirit which tempers justice with mercy. He believed in not only applying the law but in understanding the circumstances back of the individual on trial, and it was well known that Judge Gatens was always most lenient with young men who were first offenders. He would never sentence them, believing in giving them a chance and believing, moreover, that it would be their ruin to place them in a prison surrounded by hardened criminals. He made appeal to their manhood and their sense of right and there are many today who have been reclaimed by reason of his mercy. The Judge was also proud of the fact that during his thirteen years’ service on the bench he never sentenced a man to the gallows. With his retirement from the bench Judge Gatens resumed the private practice of law and his duties in this connection made heavy demand upon his time and energies. His practice was extensive and of an important character, yet he always found time for activity along those lines which had to do with the welfare of the individual and the upbuilding of the community. His interest in the young never ceased and he was responsible for the adoption of the anti-cigarette law in Oregon. The widow pension law also found its way to the statute books of the state through his efforts, and it is said that he often left the courtroom making his way direct to some home in which he might render practical assistance through material aid or kindly advice. He remained an active worker in the democratic party throughout his life, his opinions carrying weight in its councils, and in 1924 he was its candidate for the office of mayor. On the 1st of November, 1899, Judge Gatens was united in marriage to Miss Mina M. Maker, of Seattle, a daughter of Dr. Edwin A. and Patience (Sevey) Maker, the former a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the latter of Maine. The father became one of the pioneer dentists of Seattle and was recognized as a very prominent member of the profession in the northwest. Judge and Mrs. Gatens became the parents of a daughter, Helengray Patricia, who is now a freshman in the University of Oregon at Eugene. About a year prior to his demise the Judge erected an attractive residence in Dunthorpe, where his wife and daughter still reside. He found his greatest happiness in promoting their comfort and welfare. In 1926, his health not quite up to normal, Judge and Mrs. Gatens went south to Glendale, California, where they were sojourning that he might recuperate. He returned, however, in order to conduct a case and while in the courtroom suffered an attack that was terminated by death after two hours, on the 13th of January, 1927. All Portland felt his loss with a sense of personal bereavement and the press throughout the state bore testimony to the high regard in which he was uniformly held. During the time of his funeral the circuit courts of Portland closed and their judges attended the services in a body, together with many other of the most distinguished residents of Oregon. Governor Patterson wired: “Accept my sincere sympathy at the death of your husband. I feel a keen personal grief at the loss of one whom I valued as a friend and as one of the most useful citizens of Oregon.” The Klamath Falls Herald said of him: “Judge ‘Billy’ Gatens of Portland passed on yesterday while in the harness of his profession. He was not an old man, but he had led an active life, for he was a strong character, an able attorney, a man with a principle and a defender of that principle. As a public official he made a good record; as a private citizen he was a lovable friend and a good man. Many disagreed with the judge on public questions but no one ever felt anything but the purest motives prompted him in his stand on those questions. As a leading democrat of Oregon he occupied rather a unique position for his political following was chiefly republican. In his death the bar of Oregon loses a character of state size and the general public loses a clean, high-minded and courageous citizen.” Tributes of love and affection were expressed on every hand. George Hammersly, veteran deputy district attorney, declared: “We will miss him and so will many of the poorer people who become interested in court litigation, for he was their friend. Billy was a judge who stood on his own feet. He was independent. If Billy felt sure that there were mitigating circumstances -- especially in criminal trials of alleged first offenders -- he would say so on short notice. Many attorneys who tried to hold out for the letter of the law met with Billy’s ‘circumstance’ feeling and saw their case and ‘the letter of the law’ blown to the four winds by words emanating from Billy’s big heart.” The Portland Spectator said: “With general regret is marked the passing of Judge William N. Gatens of Portland, who had served the public long and admirably in many official positions, as well as in the unselfish private movements for civic betterment in which he was ever a moving spirit.” The Oregonian wrote editorially: “The death of William N. Gatens removed from the professional and political life of this city a figure of conspicuous friendship. During his service as circuit judge Mr. Gatens was the spirit of impartiality and judicial poise, and certainly he was one of the most popular incumbents ever to have occupied that office. He was one of those men to whom we pay passing tribute in saying that they are likable, and it needed not his excellent qualifications as a lawyer to win him wide recognition. A very human, friendly man was Judge Gatens, and sorrow at his death is everywhere to be found.” The editorial of the Portland Telegram contained the following: “As judge he was fair minded and conscientious. He gave to his work on the bench a concentrated interest and energy that were remarkable, with the result that his court disposed of a great volume of cases in a relatively short time. It was his constant effort to combat the law’s delay and in that respect he set an admirable example for bench and bar. His greatest service to the community, and the one in which he himself took most pride and satisfaction, was as judge of the juvenile court. There he displayed a sympathy for boyhood and an understanding of its problems that made him more friend than judge and made his influence a constructive force in the lives of his young charges. His genuine liking for people and his talent for cheerful good fellowship brought him a host of friends. Few men in Portland have been more widely known and more universally popular.” Another journal said editorially: “Though he was a judge, clothed in the dignity and responsibility of the bench, a whole city called him ‘Billy’ Gatens. They called him ‘Billy’ because his warmth made them prize him. ‘Billy’ did not mean lessened respect. It did not mean that he was any less the jurist. It phrases good will in a single word, their good will that they wanted him to feel. Some men call out no warmth. They have reserve that holds others back and makes approach difficult. Life runs that way, and makes mankind a vast mixture of clouds and sunshine. To Billy Gatens, the other man’s station in life meant nothing. It was enough for him that the other man was a human being. The dweller in the palace on the hill and in the sunless room in the tenement were, in his code, alike under the bill of rights and entitled to consideration, respect and a square deal. There was no locked gate to his heart. The portals were wide open and the key was in the deep blue sea. To walk in there and relax and be refreshed, and sit in good cheer was every man’s privilege. Gladness flooded from his soul as the soft south wind comes out of the prairies. He radiated it to others as universally as the morning sun throws its beams over the hills and the valleys. To meet him was to smile and to be answered with a smile. In his court poverty knew it had a hearing. Rags and pinched faces got no rebuff there. The measure of his judgment was not the habiliments but the merits of the litigant, and the justice of his cause. No juvenile judge in the history of Portland administered more wisely. He comprehended the child, understood the parent, esteemed both, and with rare sympathy and discretion ministered to their troubles, and in mercy and wisdom showed many an offender the way to the right trail. He carried the court to folks all over the city, fixed it in their minds and made it a great city institution for the reclamation of precarious humanity. Scores of youngsters, salvaged by his gentle judgments to useful careers, will be, through life, living monuments to the splendid soul that has gone on its last long flight. It was a gentle life that went out in a Portland courtroom Thursday. It was a figure that bulked large in the appreciation of many a soul. It was a man who probably in all his fifty-nine years of life never intentionally wronged a human being. But he served and gladdened many. It is a good record to have made. It is a good name to have left, a name that a city full of people affectionately call ‘Billy’ Gatens, a name that through life stood for equality, good will and humanity.” Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Volume II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1928 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/gatens53gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 13.3 Kb