The Mouse That Roared
By Julie Chrystyn

"Image isn't everything," says LuAn Mitchell-Halter. But "perception is reality," says the legendary Hollywood publicist Lee Solters. The two are an odd pairing. Or so it seems. The latter helped shape the public's perception of clients like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson (the early years), President Ronald Reagan and The Pope...to name but a few. Not temporarily, but for decades. This year, Lee Solters celebrates 65 years as a public relations power player as well as the 50th anniversary of his PR firm, Solters & Digney in Beverly Hills and New York. At one point, every single head of public relations at the seven major Hollywood film studios, simultaneously, had all been one of his apprentices at one time or another.

LuAn, on the other hand, was an impoverished wallflower at a small Catholic school in rural Saskatchewan, Canada when she found herself "mysteriously" pregnant at the age of 16 and was shipped out of school and out of home by a mother who had declared LuAn's life to be "over." Mothers. What can you say? LuAn's efforts to juggle three jobs and no support left her depleted on all fronts. She exercised the only option available to her and put up her six month old infant girl for adoption. Rock bottom is sometimes a pretty good place to begin, for as they say, there's nothing left to lose.

Recently, on a bright and balmy Sunday morning, several thousand people packed Dr. Robert Schuller's non-denominational Crystal Cathedral in Southern California where LuAn Mitchell-Halter was the featured guest. This televised "Hour of Power" program was being aired around the world. Family and friends had arrived from across the country, from Canada, and several continents to honor this woman, for LuAn has been a source of strength and encouragement to all of us who know her.

I sat with her three beaming children, her husband Dr. Reese Halter, her publisher Debbie Luican and her publicist Lee Solters. Dr. Schuller introduced his guest...an entrepreneur, corporate executive, author, motivational speaker, philanthropist, wife, mother and former Miss Saskatoon. LuAn Mitchell-Halter has reached the pinnacle of business success, being named Canada's Number One Female Entrepreneur for three consecutive years. Chairperson of the Board for Mitchell's Gourmet Foods in Canada from 1998 to 2003, LuAn has been honored annually since 2001 as a Leading Woman Entrepreneur of the World and has received the McGill University of Montreal's 2003 Management Achievement Award for excellence in business and community service. In her spare time, she serves on various boards, including Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Women's Leadership Board.

Not bad for someone who barely completed high school--eventually. And on this day her autobiography, "Paper Doll, Lessons Learned From a Life Lived in the Headlines," was being introduced to the world for the first time. The Crystal Cathedral may seem an odd choice of venue, some might speculate. But not really.

Enter Fred Mitchell. It was 1984 and he was the fourth-generation heir, and the President of Intercontinental Packers. The dashing multi-millionaire was flying high when he spotted a young woman with a thousand watt smile in the local paper. He saved the page. Meanwhile, LuAn was pounding the pavement in search of a small bank loan in order to start a day spa/modeling school business. No collateral, no education, no experience and no cosigner. She managed to obtain the loan and even employed her mother. Fred Mitchell found her too. He fell in love with her, but Fred's family didn't. Under protest, LuAn signed an airtight prenuptial agreement, at the insistence of Fred's mother, which guaranteed LuAn would receive absolutely nothing in the event of a divorce. "It was so demeaning," LuAn now says, "that no lawyer would counsel me to sign the document."

"It was a storybook wedding though," she says, "the social event of the year." But there was a secret: little did the guests know that a very short time earlier, Fred was diagnosed with a rare form of cystic fibrosis. His lungs were shot and his life was to be cut frightfully short.

The rest of the story is the stuff of soap operas and scandalous national headlines. Without trials there can be no miracles and LuAn was about to experience both - of the Mount Everest variety. Against all odds, Fred fathered a son and shortly thereafter, became America's seventh double heart/lung transplant recipient at Stanford. The couple adopted another baby boy. And for the record books, LuAn became pregnant with a girl -- post transplant.

Fred and LuAn's growing family and Fred's worsening health did not bring tears of joy and sorrow to everyone in Fred's family. Instead, a bitter and much publicized family feud erupted over Fred's leadership role at Intercontinental Packers, and over the control and future direction of the family business. Millions in legal fees later and, by now, a nearly bankrupt company, left Fred and his young family in financial ruin. They sold their palatial home in Palm Springs that had once belonged to billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. In fact, they sold virtually everything of material value - their homes, cars, and liquidated their assets as Fred, LuAn, their three children and two dogs (named Bonnie and Clyde) all moved into one Chevy van. This is how one Canadian magazine summed it all up:

"Local beauty queen marries leading scion just as his illness and resulting family [dispute] tear him from his beloved industrial empire. Several court battles, a double heart/lung transplant and three children later, he dies unexpectedly. Instead of cashing in, his widow boldly takes over the boardroom to help complete one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian history."

Fred and LuAn eventually reached an out of court settlement with Fred's family that gave them the prize they were after. "But by now, we had inherited an insolvent company," LuAn states. In extremely short order, $33 million was raised just to keep the doors open. Fred knew his time was limited and he taught LuAn all he could about the business. Fred was days from taking the company public when he died. "I knew that if we went public at that point," LuAn says, "we would become a takeover target - the vultures were already circling. This would have been devastating to thousands of our people and the local economy."

Then LuAn gathered up her three small children and, together, the four of them took to the podium at the plant all wearing their white meatpackers coats. Just ten days after his father's death, 10-year old Fred, Jr., stood in front of his father's employees and shouted, "My dad would have kicked butt!"

And so they did. Last year I ran into LuAn - where all women eventually run into each other - the shoe department of Barney's New York on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. I wrote about her story in this column for the Newspaper Group and it now appears on the cover of her new book. Forwarded by Dennis Kneale of Forbes magazine, he reminds us what B.C. Forbes had said in 1917, shortly before founding Forbes magazine: "History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats."

Dennis Kneale adds that, "Eighty-five years later, his axiom rings especially true as LuAn Mitchell-Halter would appreciate. She has been through a passel of troubles and has persevered, enjoying abundant success, as measured by the essentials that most of us pursue: unyielding love, ample security and sweet comfort."

She's not keeping it all to herself, however. During his darkest hour in his hospital room at Stanford, Fred Mitchell turned on the television and heard Dr. Schuller speak words of love, hope, encouragement and the power of prayer. Once he survived, he befriended Dr. Schuller and on this day, when his widow presents their story to the public, she also presents Dr. Schuller with one-million-dollars to help support his global ministry. She also donated millions of dollars to cystic fibrosis research, McGill University and assorted charitable causes and educational institutions. At present, she's fielding movie offers for the rights to her story. Let's see...can you envision Michelle Pfeiffer as a meat packer, with the fighting spirit of Erin Brockovich, the business savvy of Martha Stewart, the personal tragedy of a Kennedy wife with a dash of Mother Theresa?