The creators of Cuddly Wudley are
husband and wife, Billy Loa and Lynne Morgan Loa. Cuddly Wudley, was
born in Hawaii, and has a simple purpose: to spread love and aloha.
The voice of Cuddly Wudley is native Hawaiian, Billy Loa, co-creator of
the bear.
Loa grew up in Hawaii and In 1999, he married and moved to California
to be with his wife, Lynne Morgan. Like many local boys who travel away
from the islands, Loa felt something was amiss in his otherwise sunny
lifestyle in Southern California. Time and time again he would tell
his wife, "There is something missing here on the mainland -- we need
to spread more love and aloha."
Lynne agreed with Billy. She knew that if there was anyone who could
spread more "aloha" it was her husband. "He has such a gentle,
comforting way of saying things to make me feel better," explains
Lynne. " I always said he could work for Hallmark because whatever he
said, was from the heart." She told him maybe your purpose for being on
the mainland is to spread aloha. Not knowing at the time he would be
fulfilling his purpose with heartful words of comfort through Cuddly
Wudley.
On Valentine's Day in 2002, Billy gave his wife a Teddy bear that was
designed so that you could record your own voice. One day Billy was
playing around with it, using different voices, and Lynne thought how
great it would be if they designed a bear that could comfort foster
kids, kids in accidents or anyone who needs to hear "Don't worry,
everything will be okay. I'm here for you."
Convinced this was a perfect way to spread aloha, Lynne got on the
internet and starting researching Teddy Bears. Billy came up with the
"License to Love" idea where each bear would be given a Hawaiian
license complete with name, address, and birth date, that would
flip-over so that kids could have their own license as well. And, of
course, since Cuddly Wuddly was from the Islands, he should be sporting
festive Aloha fabric -- a hibiscus pattern on neck and ears seemed the
perfect Hawaiian touch.
It took 9 months of creating, but Cuddly Wudley s now available for
adoption. Down the road, the Loa's plan to have a complete line of
Aloha wear and sports equipment for Cuddly Wudley. You'll always
recognize a Cuddly Wudley bear because it's embroidered with his name
on the bottom of his feet.
A final word from the creators:
"We feel everyone needs a hug and everyone needs to feel special. We
are all looking for comfort and we hope in some small way Cuddly Wudley
makes people feel better. There has not been a person that has "met"
Cuddly Wuddly that has not had a smile on their face. That makes us
smile."