Pat Engelhardt

Pat Engelhardt, of Athol, Idaho, passed away peacefully after six years of battling cancer. Pat’s fiancée, Kate, stayed by his side, patient and devoted, caring for him until the end.

Pat drove the steam engine at Silverwood theme park in North Idaho. He worked as a Head Start school bus driver and as a custodian at Athol Elementary. Pat took care of his aging parents for three years in Tucson, Ariz. During those years, Pat drove his parents and four, over 80-year-old friends to weekly lunches. Lloyd was the oldest and blind. Pat lifted him into the front seat for the lunch trips. He named the group ‘The Wild Bunch.’

Pat was predeceased by his parents, Irv and Barb Engelhardt, Tucson, and his oldest brother, Gary Engelhardt, Chattanooga, Tenn., whose passing was 15 days before Pat, on Jan. 22. Pat is survived by his fiancée, Kate Walker, Coeur d’Alene; sister-in-law, Pam G. Harvey, Chattanooga; brothers, Don (Camille) Engelhardt, Mays Landing, N.J. and Steve (Tina Geithner) Engelhardt, Spokane, Wash.; sister, Maribeth (Mike) Greenslade, Phoenix, Ariz.; and many nieces and nephews who cherish their memories of Uncle Pat.

Irv was a clown, and like his dad, Pat also made people smile, especially kids. Parents of children in Pat’s Athol neighborhood sent their kids off with Pat on hiking and biking adventures in the woods around Lake Pend Oreille. They returned home safely and with stories. Now adults, all those kids still love Pat. He played all summer in Coeur d’Alene and could often be found hiking Tubbs Hill or swimming or boating on the lake. A large, stuffed zebra named Zibby rode in his boat or in the back of his pickup. Pat never missed the eagles feeding on fish at Higgins Point on Lake Coeur d’Alene. He rowed his canoe or boat across Lake Pend Oreille’s Idlewild Bay many times, searching for eagles or mountain goats on the cliffs below Bernard Peak.

Pat started riding motorcycles in the woods as a teenager outside his hometown of Egg Harbor, N.J. He road motorcycles for the next 50 years, traveling all over the western states and southern British Columbia. Pat visited nearly every National Park in the country, and backpacked in Glacier Park, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He sometimes traveled with a hot springs guide, searching for primitive, remote springs to soak in, miles and miles down dirt roads. Pat couldn’t get enough of the red-rock beauty of Zion and Bryce National Parks, and the Grand Staircase National Monument in Southern Utah. He watched condors soar above the Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona.

After attending St. Nicholas Elementary School in Egg Harbor, Pat went to Holy Spirit and Oakcrest High Schools in southern New Jersey. Pat excelled at basketball and played for Oakcrest, one of the few teams that beat Atlantic City High School in the mid-1970s. Pat took classes at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene and pursued passions for volleyball, Frisbee and geology. He could explain how the glaciers formed mountains and valleys of the Northwest and how the Great Floods spread out boulders and the rich soil of the palouse.

Pat referred to his six years fighting cancer as "an incredible experience.” He endured different chemotherapies and physical pain but always kept smiling, riding his scooter, exploring rivers, lakes and mountains in North Idaho. Pat wrung every drop out of life.

Yates Funeral Home, Coeur d’Alene, is entrusted with final arrangements. Please visit Pat’s online memorial and sign his guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.