Samuel S. Peden

Samuel Stephen Peden passed away at home under Hospice care June 5, 2021. He was born in Portland, OR, September 8, 1937. As a young boy Sam lived in Portland and Maupin, OR. He then moved to Walnut Creek, CA, and finished his high school years. Sam attended the University of California at Berkeley, graduated in 1959 with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology. Upon graduation he was hired by the Walnut Creek Police Department, as a Patrolman. For The next two years he attended graduate school at Berkeley in Criminology and Education. He earned a Secondary Teaching Credential in 1961 from the State of California. He joined the Internal Revenue Service as a Revenue Officer in 1961, in Redding, CA, after six years was promoted to Group Manager and transferred to San Francisco, in 1969 he was promoted to Chief Special Procedures. In 1971 he was promoted and moved to Seattle, WA, as Chief Office Branch and in 1974 was again promoted to Field Branch Chief and was in charge of all revenue Officers in the State of Washington. He came back to Portland in 1981 and worked until he retired in April of 1995. In that 34 year span he earned many awards. After Retirement from the IRS in May of 1995 Sam went to work for a CPA firm in Vancouver, WA. In 1998 he decided to open his own private consulting business as an Enrolled Agent and represented clients to the IRS, and for 23 years had a very busy practice. His favorite saying was on his business cards, “It’s better to know me and not need me, than to need me and not know me”. Sam was not all about work, In Sam’s time off, when his sons were young he coached his sons Little League baseball teams, he was a soccer referee for over twenty years for varies groups both in the Seattle and Portland area. In 1986 Sam met Coleen in Portland, they married in July of 1989, moved to Beaverton, OR, lived there for seven years and then built a new home in Vancouver and moved there in 1996. Sam has three sons and a stepdaughter, David S.Peden (Mason, WA), John H.Peden (Seattle)and Mark R. Peden (Beaverton), Lisa M. Gross (Happy Valley, OR); nine grandchildren, Alexa Peden, Nickolas Peden, Justin Peden, Brandon Bostwick, Tyler Bostwick, Dylan Gross, Colby Gross and Shelby Gross. Memorial Service will be held at Evergreen Memorial Gardens June 17, 2021, at 12:30 p.m.