Jørgine Slettede Boomer (August 18, 1887 – May 7, 1971) was a Norwegian-American businesswoman and entrepreneur, noted for her rags-to-riches story as a poor immigrant who became the co-owner and manager of one of the world's largest luxury hotels, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Biography Jørgine was born into a poor family supported by the tenant farm of Utafor, under the farm of Galde nordre in Bøverdalen, a valley in Lom municipality in the county of Oppland, in the Gudbrandsdalen region of Norway. In 1903, she and her older sister Mari emigrated to the United States. Their journey was long and arduous as they often were at the time: They first walked 20 km to the center of Fossbergom, then on the back of a horse-drawn cart to Otta, and from there the train to Kristiania. From there they traveled by boat to Bergen, boarded a liner to Hull, England, and from there by train to Liverpool. In Liverpool, they stayed in a boarding house with twenty other women. They left for the New World on the ocean liner RMS Cedric, and arrived, with 2,800 other passengers, in New York City ten days later on June 14, 1903. Once landed in New York, they traveled by train to Minneapolis via Chicago, and finally arrived in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where they were met by their uncle Ole. They were immediately put to work, possibly to repay the debt of their passage. Jørgine worked at her uncle's farm, but also as a nanny at a neighboring farm, while attending several evening courses. In 1905, Jørgine was admitted as a student nurse at the Minnesota Mental Institution in Minneapolis. She was subsequently admitted to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In 1915 she married Richard Sloane, who was on the faculty of Columbia as a surgeon. She also made her first return trip to Norway. She was widowed after six months. By this point, however, Georgia (as she was now known) had been introduced to society in New York. In 1917 she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Lucius M. Boomer In 1920, she married Lucius M. Boomer (1878–1947), president of Boomer-du Pont Properties Corporation. Lucius M. Boomer owned or managed a number of hotels with industrialist Thomas Coleman DuPont. In 1918, they purchased the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, then in 1920 the Willard Hotel