Samuel Lee Shanks Jr.

Samuel Lee Shanks Jr. died suddenly on Monday, November 14, at his beloved home, The Clearing, at Cobbs Creek in Mathews County, Va., where he moved from Loudoun County in 1989 upon retirement. He was born September 3, 1927 in Georgetown Hospital, Washington, D.C., the son of the late Samuel Lee Shanks and Louise Bertha Krauss Shanks. He was preceded in death by his only sister, Mary Lee S. Howard. Mr. Shanks graduated from Wilson High School in Washington D.C., where he was president of his class. He then served two years in the U.S. Army in the 33rd Field Artillery in Germany as part of the immediate post-WWII troops. He attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was retired from Fairfax County Government serving as the first head of land acquisition. He was a member of the Mathews Yacht Club where he had served on the Board of Directors. Mr. Shanks was a man of great integrity, enormous wit, and much charm. He will be remembered as a raconteur. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Janice Claire Harris Shanks, of Cobbs Creek; his beloved daughter, Mary Lee S. Walden and her husband, James Whitfield Walden; two dear grandsons, Winston Whitfield Walden and Taylor DuFief Walden, all of Deltaville. He also leaves two nieces, one nephew, and many second cousins in Montgomery County, Maryland. Memorial services for Mr. Shanks will be held 11 a.m. Thursday, November 17, 2005 at Christ Church, Kingston Parish, on Williams Wharf Road in Mathews, Va. Interment will be in the Kingston Parish Cemetery. A reception following the service will be held at the Parish House on Main Street in Mathews. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Mathews Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 723, Mathews, Va. 23109, to the Lower Middlesex Volunteer Fire Dept., P.O. Box 440, Deltaville, Va. 23043, where his son-in-law is Volunteer Chief, or the Mathews Volunteer Fire Dept., P.O. Box 1130, Mathews, Va. 23109. Foster-Faulkner Funeral Home, Mathews, is in charge of the arrangements.