Anja LeMaster Goen

Anja LeMaster Goen (42) passed away in her sleep on February 6, 2025. Anja was born on March 11, 1982, in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Bill and Elizabeth Goen. When Anja was just 6 weeks old, she moved to Saudi Arabia where her father worked in the oil business. Anja lived in Saudi until 1990 but spent vacations in Oklahoma where her family had a cabin on Fort Gibson Lake. She loved recalling fond memories with her cousins at the lake cabin. She later lived in Singapore before returning home to Oklahoma. Her family later moved to Orlando so that she and her sister could pursue tennis full time. Anja graduated with a degree in interior design from Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. After spending many summers in Destin, she moved here full-time in 2006.

Anja was an excellent tennis player and played in the local leagues. She worked as an interior designer at several firms in Destin and on 30A. She was currently working at Ethan Allen in Destin. Anja was also an FAA certified flight attendant certified on Gulfstream Aircraft. She worked for several years at AUTEC in West Palm Beach traveling back and forth to the US Navy base in the Bahamas several time per day. She was also based in Stuttgart, Germany flying trips for the State Department. She worked air ambulance and diplomatic flights. Her trips took her all over the world to such places as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Yemen, Kenya, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Uganda, Oman, Qatar, Japan, Vietnam, and many others. On trips that sometimes spanned many days, Anja was responsible for purchasing and preparing hot meals for the crew and passengers in addition to her duties as the safety officer.

When she was not working or playing tennis, Anja was an artist and loved painting and decorating, gardening, cooking, tending to her saltwater reef tank and being on the water whether at Crab Island or fishing from the dock or in the Gulf of Mexico. She created beautiful paintings and sketches, was an amazing interior designer and cooked awesome meals. She always had her metal detector in the trunk of her car so whenever she had a chance she could search for treasures. She made many friends all around the world with her wonderful personality and sense of humor. She liked being silly and loved to make people laugh and was always the life of the party.

Anja lived life to the fullest and spent her last two years with the love of her life and fiance, Jake. Her time with us was much too short but she lived more in her 42 years than most do in a lifetime.

She always had a strong faith, belief in God and made the decision to follow Christ on April 28, 2024, when she was baptized at Destiny Worship Center in Miramar Beach.

She is surely heading up an “Amaaaazing Celebraaaation" in Heaven by now.

Anja is survived by her parents, Bill Goen of Miramar Beach and Elizabeth Wttewall Goen of Oviedo; sister, Katja Zielke; nieces, Brooke, Brice, Lauren and Kate of Orlando; sister, Kelly Goen; nephew, Zach; niece, Brooke of Tulsa, Oklahoma; her fiancé, Jake Dowdy of Destin; her beloved chihuahuas, Micky and Coco, and her and Jake’s two, new American Bully puppies: Blue and Pinky of Destin; and ex-husband, Robert Smith of Fort Walton Beach.

A visitation will take place on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the Chapel of 30A beginning at 2:00 p.m., followed by a funeral service at 3:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to chihuahua-rescue.com