Catherine Lehto

Catherine Lehto of St. Ignace was the co-owner of Lehto's Pasties on US-2 in Moran Township, and may have pioneered the first pasty "drive-in" establishment in the early 1950s. Soon after moving to St. Ignace in 1949, Mrs. Lehto noticed that St. Ignace was a busy tourist area and she asked her husband, John to build a small shop on the highway where they could sell pasties to traveling "Copper Country" tourists. The Lehtos worked in the pasty shop for more than 50 years.

Mrs. Lehto was 90 when she died Saturday, April 28, 2007, at Mackinac Straits Hospital in St. Ignace.

A native of the Copper Country, she was born to Lawrence and Edna Sikarski August 17, 1916, in Wabino, Wisconsin. She was one of eight children. Her parents came from Russia to the small Finnish farming community of Aura, near L'Anse in the west end of the Upper Peninsula.

She was graduated from L'Anse High School, and attended college in Wisconsin. Following graduation, she returned to Aura to marry the love of her life, John Lehto May 18, 1935, in Negaunee. They had two children, and in 1949, moved to St. Ignace, where Mr. Lehto worked on the ferry boats in the Straits of Mackinac.

Mr. and Mrs. Lehto enjoyed traveling and ice fishing together. Mrs. Lehto also enjoyed gardening, cooking, and berry picking.

She is survived by her son and his family, Michael and Barbara Lehto of Evergreen Shores; a daughter, Katherine Babcock of St. Ignace; five grandchildren, Cassandra Darnell, Lee Smith, Michael Lehto, Andy Lehto, and Cindy Schneider; nine great-grandchildren; a brother, Joe Sikarski of L'Anse, and a sister, Ellen Exworthy of Traverse City.

She is preceded in death by her husband, three brothers, John, Leo, and Dave, and two sisters, Anna and Martha.

Visitation will be Thursday, May 3, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Ignace. The funeral will be Thursday, May 3, at 11 a.m., at Zion Lutheran Church. Pastor Tari Stage-Harvey will officiate.

Burial will be in Gros Cap Cemetery in Moran Township.