Wilson "Lee" Faris, Jr.

Wilson “Lee” Faris, Jr., (also known as “Poppy”), 77 passed away on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 after a two-year battle with ALS. He was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 3, 1946 to the late Wilson Lee Faris, Sr. (1996) and Edna Gatliff Sutton (2012). He spent most of his childhood living in the Alexandria, VA area. Lee was a proud graduate of the University of Richmond class of1968 and a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Lee and his young family moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1978. He has been an active and vocal member of the Gaithersburg community for nearly 50 years. He spent the last 17 years working at the Lowe’s in the Kentlands as a kitchen designer, where he made many wonderful friends. From 1994 to 2019, he was better known as “The Voice of the Cougars”, as he was the announcer for every home game of the Quince Orchard High School Football team. He took great pride in that role, and at his retirement, the City of Gaithersburg designated January 5th as “Lee Faris Day”. In 2022, he called his final football season at St. John’s Catholic Prep in Buckeystown for his grandson’s (Owen) senior year.

Lee was an avid historian, specifically of the Civil War and WWII. He enjoyed hiking, camping, Sci-Fi movies, and collecting movie and TV props. He also loved college football, and enjoyed those seasons with his daughters who attended the University of Alabama, James Madison University, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Mississippi.

Lee married Julianne Margaret Dietmeir in September 1971. He leaves behind his wife, along with five adult children and six grandsons who he adored: Andrea Lynne Faris Roberts (Rich) of Chapin, SC-sons Reece and Owen, Kathleen Leigh Faris Kangas (Will) of Panama City, FL-sons Ian and Kyle, Diana Lianne Faris Coffey of Simpsonville, SC, Victoria Lee Faris Coles (Danny)-sons Charlie and Elliott, and Wilson Lee (Trey) Faris, III of Germantown, MD. He also leaves behind one sister, Darleen Faris Nichols of Warsaw, VA. Lee was preceded in death by an infant brother Ronald Gilbert “Gibby” Faris in 1953.

A public visitation will be held at DeVol Funeral Home, 10 East Deer Park Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland on Thursday, April 4, 2024 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with a funeral service at 11 a.m.

Interment will be at Maury Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia on Friday, April 5, 2024 at 11am, where he will join six generations of his ancestors.

"He has crossed over the river and rests in the shade of the trees."

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to A Mother’s Rest Charitable Respite Foundation www.amothersrest.org/thegiftofrest , PO Box 674 White Rock, SC 29177 or to MountEd Baptist Church, P.O. Box 237, Batesville VA 22924.