Howard Eugene Waterworth

1936 - 2023

Howard Eugene Waterworth

LANHAM, MD - Howard Eugene Waterworth, of Lanham, MD, passed away on Sunday, July 9, 2023 at the age of 86. Howard was the first of six children born to Merlin and Dorothea (Wrede) Waterworth, spending the first 18 years of his life on a small dairy farm in Randolph, WI.

Howard enrolled in the Education Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and after graduating in 1958, began his PhD Program in Plant Pathology. While an undergraduate, Howard was a member of the Gamma Chapter of the Agricultural Fraternity Delta Theta Sigma in addition to his part-time work in the print office on campus and a funeral home off campus.

After completing his PhD in 1962, Howard fulfilled his Recruitment Officer Training Corps obligations in the military police as a second lieutenant in the US Army, serving in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie from 1962-1964.

In 1964, he was offered a permanent position as a Research Lead in Plant Pathology with the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service in Glenn Dale, MD. Within a few months, he had relocated to Lanham, MD where he would live for the remainder of his life.

Until his retirement in 1999, Howard worked as part of a prominent research team with researchers based around the world at Glenn Dale with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. His research focused on efforts to solve plant pathogen issues harming US agriculture. He authored articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, HortScience, Plant Disease, and Journal of Washington Academy of Sciences. Howard served as the program lead for many years in the USDA's 1890s Land-Grant Institutions Program, which bestows research funding to historically black universities in agricultural sciences.

For two years after retirement, Howard continued to serve as a Senior Editor for the journal Plant Disease, and provided public talks to the Prince George's County Historical Society on the Glenn Dale Station Facility and its role in the county's history.

Later in life, Howard volunteered at his church in Bowie, tending the gardens and surrounding landscapes. Howard also lent his prodigious knowledge of horticulture to the University of Maryland Extension Program as an active Master Gardener with Prince George's County and the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club. Howard was a regular judge at the county and state 4-H Fairs, and served as a volunteer archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration in their College Park, MD facility.

Over 30 years, Howard also restored more than six dozen antique pieces of farm equipment for the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, MD.

Howard is survived by his wife of 45 years, Pamela; daughters: Mary (Jeff) Waterworth, Allison (Robert) Waterworth, Rebeccah (Jason) Waterworth and Sarah (Maria) Waterworth; and grandchildren: Luke and Meghan Ramundo, and Jack and Collin Tarleton. Howard is also survived by brothers: Kenneth and Dwayne; and sister, Delores Friedrich of Randolph, WI. Howard was preceded in death by his parents, Merlin and Dorothea and brothers: Ronald and Rodney.

Memorial services were held on September 23, 2023 at St. Matthews United Methodist Church in Bowie, MD.

Memorial contributions can be made to Bowie-Crofton Garden Club in Bowie, MD; University of Maryland Extension in College Park, MD; or Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, MD.