Pat Cartwright

Patrick Brame Cartwright, 78, of Squirrel, Idaho died August 25, 2026, of natural causes. He was born May 17, 1948, in Coronado, California. Parents were Milly and Hal Cartwright who were pre deceased before him. Pat was the second of eight children and an Irish twin as Wayne and Pat were 11 months apart. His siblings are Wayne, Casey (deceased), Laurie (Coles), Robert, Carroll (Herzog), Mark (deceased) and Tom.

Pat’s father Hal was a Navy pilot and his family moved approximately every 3 years. Pat attended 17 schools while growing up in: Coronado CA, Monterey CA, Corpus Christy TX, Great Lakes IL, Palm City CA, Bremerton WA, Oxnard, CA, Sunnyvale CA, Ewa Beach HI and Carrizo Springs TX. Pat especially loved living in Hawaii for 3 years where he learned to surf. As an adult he lived in Santa Cruz CA, Carrizo Springs TX, Belize, Los Angeles CA, Jackson Hole WY and finally Squirrel ID when he passed away peacefully on August 25, 2026.

Pat loved to garden and grew much of what he ate. He loved spending time Idaho Art Lab in St. Anthony, where he made many donations, financially and physically. The lab was like a second home to him as he was a civic leader in the Arts who sought out fellow creatives, openly sharing his engineering and prop-building knowledge. He collected vintage sewing machines and repaired them. Pat was also a master craftsman who practiced pottery, painting, stitching, and photography.

Pat loved Yellowstone and the Tetons. He could see the Tetons from his home, the decommissioned post office, school and store built in 1899. He leaves behind his best friends, Tom Honig, Dave Gleason, Lawrence Bennett, Frank Bell, Brody and Jennifer Harshbarger, and all the kind folks at Idaho Art Labs.

Pat’s special talents included gymnastics, handstands on a skate board, fishing, farming, motorcycle riding, kite flying, cave exploring, surfing, nature photography and building things. He was one of the art directors on the Harrison Ford movie, “Mosquito Coast.” Pat had extraordinary mechanical abilities and built a number of unique machines that were shown in the film, including an automatic mop used by River Phoenix. Helen Mirren gave Pat her phone number but he was always sorry that he never called her.

He lived alone but was not lonely. He loved his cats, Pas and Ona Mae, his friends and family.

A private memorial will be held later and any donations in his honor can be made to: Idaho Art Lab, 2355 S. Yellowstone Hwy, St. Anthony ID 83445.

Rest in peace, brother!

Laurie Cartwright Coles

Wayne Cartwright