Richard "Dick" Waterman, Jr.

Richard "Dick" Waterman, Jr. was born on November 3, 1940 in Washington DC and grew up on a farm in Georgetown with his parents, Richard Waterman, Sr. and Ella Sherier Waterman. An interesting point that Dick liked to share with people was that not only did he live on a farm in Georgetown where his family raised pigs, goats, chickens and other animals as well as vegetables and fruits, he was also the first person in recorded history at that time at Georgetown Hospital to have survived a close range gunshot through the heart and lungs, per newspaper articles published in 1955. He attended Western High School where he served in the ROTC and graduated in 1958. Also as a teenager, Dick was recruited for the U.S. Olympic shooting team and was on his way to the Olympics in 1956 but at the last minute was not permitted to go because he was under 18 and they did not allow for unaccompanied minors. However, he earned a great number of medals and awards in shooting competitions in the U.S., which he proudly displayed in his gun cabinet for the remainder of his life and enjoyed showing them to friends. After high school, Dick attended Virginia Military Institute and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1962 and later received a Ph.D. from Catholic University in Civil & Structural Engineering. And for a period of about a year right after college, Dick joined the Washington DC Police Auxiliary to assist with times of civil unrest and also was part of their sports shooting team. Following VMI he enrolled in the Army Reserves Corps of Engineers at the level of Captain and was stationed out of Virginia and served with them until 1967 when he was in a bad car accident and needed to be medically discharged from the Army. Also from 1962 until 1976, Dick worked for the DC government as an engineer who worked on roads, tunnels and water/sewer from which he took early retirement due to some medical issues. Dick and his family then moved from Montgomery County to a farmette in Urbana in 1976 where they kept several horses, while also operating a large horse and hay farm in the Germantown area where the family kept more horses and Dick was a weekend farmer, making hay off of 100 acres of pasture every summer and driving tractors and other heavy equipment. He was always building or fixing something and was a jack of all trades, with knowledge of just about anything you need to know to keep an old house and a farm in good working order. If he wasn’t at the Germantown or Urbana farms on the weekends, he would likely be at the Frederick Pony Club grounds in Ijamsville doing volunteer maintenance work while his wife and daughter were taking part in riding and competition activities; and if not there, he was serving as an umpire for his son’s little league team. Concurrent with moving to Urbana, Dick worked in the private construction industry for many years until he started his own company in the late 1980s where he contracted for road work with the county, state and private developers. 

After retirement from business in general, Dick enjoyed a quiet lifestyle at his small farm in Urbana where he spent time babysitting his grandchildren and tinkering around the property. In his later years, Dick moved into a house that his daughter built for Dick and Sue to live in during their golden years. He lived there for about 10 years, taking care of Sue when she was ill before her passing in 2016, after which time he lived independently until he had an accident that caused him to need several orthopaedic surgeries, eventually landing him in a wheelchair full-time. He attended Daybreak Adult Day Services for several years before and after Covid, and up until an unplanned hospital stay in early September 2024, was attending Daybreak every weekday enjoying himself immensely. After a series of medical and physical issues that occurred in early September of 2024, after some rehabilitation, Richard Waterman contracted a sudden and severe illness and passed from this life at Frederick Health Hospital on January 21, 2025.

Dick was preceded in death by both of his parents as well as his beloved wife of 48 years, Suzanne "Sue" Morders Waterman. He leaves behind two children, Alexandra Ione "Sandy" Waterman of Urbana, Richard "Rick" Waterman III and his wife Heather Waterman of Middletown; two grandchildren, Grace Ann Waterman and Kyle Richard Waterman also of Middletown. In addition, his sister, Sally Waterman Scott and cousin Randy Damren survive him, as well as several other cousins, nieces and nephews. Special remembrances go to Mary Evans, who was like a daughter to him, and Opy Ajisegiri, his long-time friend and caregiver. Some other very important people in Dick’s life were the staff and fellow participants at Daybreak Adult Day Services center in Frederick, where he spent much of his time over the last several years on weekdays, and was considered the “Mayor of Daybreak.”

At this time there are no formal services planned. A gathering of family and friends will take place in the spring during which a fruit tree will be planted in his honor at the family farmhouse in Urbana. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in his memory to either Daybreak Adult Day Services (https://daybreakadultdayservices.org or the Alzheimer's Association https://www.alz.org/maryland