Samuel Edwin Taylor III

Samuel Edwin Taylor III passed away at his home in Rainier WA on June 24th, 2024. Sam was born on September 18th, 1951 in Olympia WA to parents Samuel Taylor Jr and Grace Taylor. He was the third of four siblings.

He graduated from Rainier High School in the class of 1969. Thereafter he began working for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company until 1986. He then began his career with the Washington State Department of Transportation where he would work for the rest of his professional life until retirement in 2016.

Sam was an avid outdoors lover and found peace in hiking, hunting, and fishing in the backwoods of Mount Rainier National Forest, and taking his children on endeavors in the wilderness with whom he loved to share these experiences.

Samuel married and divorced twice before meeting and marrying his soul mate Laura Taylor on December 16, 2005.

He is preceded in death by his parents, and wife Laura (2016). Samuel is survived by his children James Taylor (Jenny), Samuel Taylor IV (Patricia), Jennifer Jorgensen, and Michael Davis-Taylor (Brandi); siblings Carey, and Karen (Kevin), and Sandi (Ken); 24 grandchildren; and 5 great grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and so many others who knew him as “Papa Sam.”

A funeral service for Sam is scheduled for Friday July 5th at 10am at Mills and Mills Funeral Home, and a reception will follow after at the Rainier Senior Center at 12PM. He will be laid to rest with Laura at the Rainier Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care of Mills and Mills Funeral Home.