NUN Sister David Lewis who, for more than 30 years taught at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Devizes, has died aged 76.

Sister David Lewis was born in Kilkenny in 1940 to James and Annie Keane. She entered the novitiate in January 1957 and took the name of a Welsh saint. She made her first vows in 1958 and then worked as an assistant mistress in a boarding school and in a nursing home.

In 1966 she went to Southampton to train as a teacher and eventually came to Devizes in 1972 and stayed at St Joseph’s teaching until her retirement in 2005.

From 1983 to 1990 she was the local superior of the Devizes community and after her retirement continued to minister to the parish. But concerns began to grow about her health and she moved to the Llantarnam Abbey community to be cared for and died on December 10 surrounded by the sisters who had lived with her and loved her.

She was remembered by them as a woman was quiet but with a great faith and determination and wanted everything to be neat and tidy. One recalled: “Her classroom was a joy to behold, every child engaged in their work and everything organised.”

Another described her as perfectionist but also a person who was patients with those who were more laid back. She liked to say it took all kinds of coloured glass to make a stained glass window.

Her funeral was held on December 19 and was attended by many from the Devizes congregation and school, who had known her for many years.