Woman who lived in van with family now drives a Rolls-Royce
By David Wright

She turned a small business into an empire after her husband died

Ten years ago, LuAn Mitchell-Halter - Hollywood legend Cameron Mitchell's daughter-in-law - was broke and living in a battered Chevy van with her husband, three small children and three dogs. Today she's a multimillionaire who lives in a Palm Springs mansion - and drives a Rolls-Royce that once carried the Queen of England on a royal tour!

"Rags to riches doesn't even begin to describe it," LuAn laughed in an exclusive Enquirer interview. "I tell women if you believe in your dream and it carries a 'seed for good,' then nothing can stop you."

The small-town beauty queen and 1984 Miss Canada finalist seemed to have it made in 1986 when she married successful businessman Fred Mitchell - son of stage and screen star Cameron Mitchell, best known for his hit TV series "High Chaparral."

Death Sentence

But few guests at the wedding of Fred and LuAn knew the groom had just been given a death sentence. At age 39, he'd been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and given five years to live.

LuAn spent her honeymoon learning how to nurse him. In 1992, The Enquirer revealed Cameron Mitchell's pride in his son's courage as he underwent what LuAn prayed would be a lifesaving heart-lung transplant at Stanford University.

"Then one day in 1994 he told me he had run into difficulties with his company," said LuAn. "A family feud had erupted and he was going to have to get involved in a lawsuit. He told me, 'We're going to have to sell everything - and we're going to be broke.' We had to sell our house and almost all of our possessions. But the money we raised was locked up by lawsuits."

LuAn married the son of famed actor Cameron Mitchell (circle inset) but it didn't save her, her husband Fred or their three children (left) from living in a run-down van before her husband died of cystic fibrosis. LuAn has now turned everything around.

"We had a gray Chevy van and I packed into it our three preschool children, our two Rottweilers and a poodle. We lived in the van for months, driving from state to state as Fred looked for work. I cooked on a portable hibachi and our luggage was garbage bags. We were like gypsies, living on the street."

Two years later, the lawsuit was settled. Fred and LuAn got the pork division of the meatpacking firm, which they renamed Mitchell's Gourmet Foods.

"The bad news was the company was on the brink of bankruptcy," LuAn, 43, told The Enquirer.

And then Fred suddenly died during a routine hospital checkup.

"I ran into the ladies' room and threw up. In my grief, I put my fist through the bathroom wall, dropped to my knees and cried as I never had before," she said. "Then I held Fred's hand and looked at this shell of a man - and promised him that everything we worked so hard for would not be for naught."

"But before we had even buried the man I loved, the bloodthirsty vultures began to circle. They assumed the little widow lady was an easy mark - that I'd give up the business."

But instead of selling out, LuAn went to work as its chairwoman - even laboring in its slaughterhouse.

"I overheard someone saying, 'The girl's an idiot - Fred must be rolling over in his grave.'"

But by 2002, when the hard-driving entrepreneur was finally ready to sell out and devote more time to her family, she'd built up the payroll from 600 to 1,900 and had expanded the company -which was grossing half-a-billion dollars a year.

New Book

The much-admired businesswoman has also found new happiness with her second husband, Dr. Reese Halter. And she's written a fascinating new book - "Paper Doll: Lessons Learned from a Life Lived in the Headlines" - to reinforce the message of hope she gives women in motivational speeches around the globe.

Her motto: Dream Big!