Sam’s Grandfather Chuck Adams worked for 30 years as a conductor for the Milwaukie Road Railroad (the old Portland office is now condos in the Pearl District) and his Grandfather Francis Gibbons was an immigrant from Joyce, Ireland, who died on the job working for Montana Power as a lineman.  Sam’s Grandmother Winifred Adams worked at home raising three boys; his Grandmother Marie Gibbons worked as beautician in Dillon, Montana and as professional babysitter in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sam’s Great-Grandmother Delia Gibbons also emigrated from Ireland to Portland because it reminded her of the “old country.” She lived in apartment #51 at The American apartment building on NW 21st and Johnson and worked as the housekeeper in the Bishop’s house next to Cathedral Catholic Church in Northwest Portland.

When Sam was two, his family moved to Richland, Washington for a year, and then on to Newport, Oregon where Sam attended Sam Case Elementary School and Lincoln Junior High School.  As a youth, Sam and his friends were almost always outside, rain or shine.

“My friends and I always wanted to be fishing or crabbing off the Newport fish canary docks or digging for clams in the mudflats,” Sam recalls.  “The only thing that would bring him inside was food,” said Sam’s Mom, Kara, "When he was 4 and 5 years old, he just loved Miracle Whip salad dressing, which was a luxury in our house.  In fact, he asked for a jar of it for two Christmas’ in a row.”

While in junior high school, Sam’s family moved to Eugene and his parents divorced.  “I lived with my mom and those were lean years.  We got by with subsidized student housing, student loans, food stamps and my mother’s amazing strength and frugality,” said Sam.  “I know firsthand how families can struggle and how the combination of hard work and the right kind of government help can get families through the rough   patches.”

After his mom graduated from college, she could not find work in Eugene and moved to Portland.  Sam stayed in Eugene and lived on his own throughout most of his high school years.

He worked as a dishwasher and a cook to help support himself; he wrote for the newspaper and took photos for the school yearbook.  He also was involved in cross country and student government.  “He was just the kind of independent, reliable and responsible kid who could handle living on his own at that age,” said Sam’s mother, Kara.

“Besides a few close friends, I never told anyone else I lived on my own.  But a teacher and a Vice Principal must have figured out something was up because they would always make a special point to encourage me and keep me going,” said Sam.  “My graduation from South Eugene High School in 1982 was really a tribute to their willingness to push me and give me support. Without these great teachers, I don’t know where I would have ended up.  It is why I have always fought so hard to keep our local public schools strong.”

Soon after starting college at the University of Oregon, an academic counselor told Sam that future success in the work world would require learning a second language and getting practical workplace experience.  Sam got a crash course in Spanish and a perspective on life at the Universidad de Guadalajara for two semesters.  “It was the first time I saw the U.S. from the outside looking in,” said Sam.  “I learned how little perspective I had on my own country and how much responsibility as a nation we have for being a good neighbor to the world.”

After returning to Eugene, Sam worked as an intern for Peter DeFazio, Chair of the Lane County Board of Commissioners.  He dropped out of college when DeFazio hired him to be the press secretary for his successful 1984 Congressional race.  Having a Press Secretary was not in the campaign budget so Sam took a low salary and slept on a futon on the campaign headquarters floor to save money.

“I had no prior experience and Peter took a chance on an untested kid to do his media,” said Sam.  “The first day on the job, Hasso Herring, Editor of the Albany Democrat Herald newspaper, said he had never seen a news conference planned and executed so poorly.  Luckily, I got better at it.”

“Sam has a natural curiosity that keeps him in a constant learning mode,” said DeFazio.  “You can throw him into almost any situation and he will figure out what the best action is to take.”

In 1988, Sam went to work for the Democratic House Campaign Committee.  “Thinking I was healthy, in a very dumb move to help pay my monthly bills, I stopped paying my health insurance premiums,” said Adams.  “High credit card debt and a bout of appendicitis left me over my financial head,” said Adams.  “I declared personal bankruptcy.”

Even though not required to by law, after saving up $27,000, Sam repaid the original debt still owed to his bankruptcy creditors.  In a 2002 letter and check to each creditor, Sam wrote, “I want to apologize for not keeping faith with the terms I agreed to in obtaining credit from your company.  Keeping my commitments is important to me and I deeply regret having failed to do so with your company…I would like to repay the difference between what the Bankruptcy Court distributed to you from the payment it received from me, and the amount of my original debt.”

After meeting House Speaker Vera Katz in Salem, she asked him to manage her successful mayoral campaign and serve as her Chief of Staff.

“As Chief of Staff, I could assign Sam projects deemed impossible, or projects that were off track.  He would bring people around a table and just dig into the issues and get results or nearly die trying,” said Katz.

Sam went back to school to finish his college degree and graduated from the University of Oregon in 2002.

Sam has been an active community service volunteer, serving on the Board of Directors for Cascade AIDS Project; Western States Chiropractic College; Innovation Partnership (co-founder); Portland Oregon Visitors Association; Basic Rights Oregon; Lane County Public Welfare Board; Wayne Morse Historical Park Corp.; and Lane Council of Government’s Commission on Juvenile Justice Planning.

Sam met his partner Greg Eddie in February of 1993.  Greg is also from a small-town background, having grown up in Grandview, Washington near Yakima.  He comes from a family of grape, cherry, and apple farmers.  Greg works as an auditor for Cascade Credit.  He has been active in the community as a volunteer for Cascade AIDS Project and on the Alumni Board of Puget Sound University in Tacoma, Washington.

Greg and Sam share a passion for family, friends, good food, outdoor pursuits, restoring old houses, and gardening.  They will celebrate their 11-year anniversary next February.

Greg and Sam live in the North Portland’s Kenton neighborhood.