Because of failing health, his father secured the position of lighthouse keeper at Hawkins Point in the Chesapeake, just below the mouth of Baltimore Harbor. Dr. Waterworth was raised in the lighthouse, 8 miles from the Maryland Coast and was educated at home by his mother and invalid father, never attending any formal or public schools. When he was fifteen years old and upon the death of his father, he was given the job of reporting the inland vessels by the Quarantine Department. This position was made possible at this early age, because he knew all the vessels that sailed the Chesapeake, due to his family residing in the lighthouse. His contacts with doctors at the Quarantine Station in Baltimore inspired him to study medicine. After a year and a half, he left to take a position in a Baltimore drug store, where he worked until he entered medical college at the age of eighteen. At age 20, he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, University of Maryland. He was recommended by the College to come to Central Pennsylvania to assist the late Dr. Spencer Free of DuBois, who had written to the college for an assistant. Later he assisted Dr. Blaisdell of Punxsutawney. His work, under these doctors, was at the Walston mines and at Adrian Hospital in Jefferson County.

A physician by the name of Dr. William C. Park practicing in New Millport, Pennsylvania in 1892, had heard of a doctor doing surgery in the small mining village of Helvetia near Sykesville. Dr. Park drove to Helvetia, and spent an hour talking to this doctor, Dr. Samuel J. Waterworth, convincing him to come to Clearfield. Dr. Waterworth arrived in Clearfield riding a bicycle, so Dr. Park loaned him $40.00 to buy a horse and buggy. Dr. William C. Park was the Grandfather of Dr. Elmo Erhard.

In 1894, Dr. Waterworth moved here and began his practice in Clearfield. He soon became associated with Dr. M. Gard Whittier, a pioneer surgeon of Clearfield County, and assisted at countless operations performed in kitchens and bedrooms – the “operating rooms” of that day. He made frequent trips to the Mayo Brothers’ Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and took post-graduate studies in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Vienna, Holland, Belgium and England.

While operating on a gangrenous case at Burnside in 1902, Dr. Waterworth incurred an infection of the right hand and arm, which confined him to bed for 112 days.

In 1904, Dr. Waterworth moved his family’s residence to the corner of Second and Cherry Streets. His mother, Mrs. Katharine Lee Waterworth, assisted her son in the office for a number of years before her death.

In 1908, Dr. Waterworth married Catherine L. Cunningham, niece of Monsignor Peter J. Sheridan, pastor at that time of St. Francis Catholic Church. They had seven daughters and two sons.

Dr. Waterworth served as staff surgeon until 1925, when he was elected Surgeon-in-Chief and Chief-of-Staff. A typical day’s activities began for him at 8:00 AM and continued until midnight. His rigorous hours of work were a constant marvel to his patients, friends, and colleagues. His skill as a surgeon, especially in goiter and cancer cases, won him national fame, and brought patients to Clearfield from all parts of the country. Dr. Waterworth was the subject of an article that was published in Time Magazine in 1933. Dr. S. J. Waterworth was a nationally known physician and surgeon who practiced medicine in our community for 47 years. He was the founder of our Hospital and spent his life caring for the sick in our community. He was an avid reader, and he spent many hours writing, the depth of which many people were not aware of until after his death. On June 6, 1940, at the age of 66, Dr. Waterworth died in his sleep from a heart attack.