Wegayewu S. Faris

Wegayewu S. Faris died helping to save a boy from drowning, Lone Tree, Iowa, August 5, 2022. While playing along a bank of the Iowa River, an 8-year-old boy entered deep water and was bobbing up and down. The boy’s father was fishing nearby with a friend, Faris, 42, a high school custodian who had his own three young children nearby. Faris entered the water, swam to the boy, and put the boy onto his back. Struggling in the current toward the middle of the river, Faris separated from the boy and submerged. Having heard shouts for help, a kayaker paddled upriver and pulled the boy, who then was unresponsive, out of the water. The kayaker took the boy to shore, then searched unsuccessfully for Faris. The boy’s father, who had entered the river after Faris, safely returned to the bank. The boy, who was revived, was taken to a hospital, where he recovered and was released the following day. Firefighters recovered Faris’s body about an hour after the incident. He had drowned.

Obituary

Wegayewu Sahilu Faris was born May 5, 1980 in Ethiopia, the son of Sahilu Faris and Mulu Tolosa. He attended schools in Ethiopia, then moved to the United States in 2004 settling in the Iowa City area. Here he attended Kirkwood Community College. He married Teyobesta Tewabe on February 16, 2018, here in Iowa City. For many years he has worked at City High School where he developed long lasting friendships with staff and students alike. Wegayewu loved to be outside, enjoying camping, fishing, landscaping and playing and watching soccer, but near and dear to him was his family, especially his four children!

His family includes his wife, Teyobesta; their children, Zackarie Porter, Samuel, Nebyat and Lucas; brother, Abusha Faris; sisters, Banchu Sahilu (Getnet) and Kere Sahilu (Wobishet) and a number of nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and 1 brother. He will be dearly missed by all those that knew him.