My stepmother, Miranda Lewis-Saunders, who has died suddenly of cancer aged 49, had a career dedicated to public service, working in water treatment, waste management and education.
She was born in Llanelli, to Meriel (nee Lewis), a deputy head teacher, and Raymond Lewis, who established and ran a floristry business from their home, Rosedale Nursery. Though Miranda was born deaf, her mother was determined she should go to a mainstream school, and she excelled at ysgol y Felin in Felinfoel, supported by dedicated teachers and an audiologist, becoming fluent in Welsh and English. She went on to study geology at Aberystwyth University.
Miranda worked for the National Rivers Authority in a water-testing laboratory in 1998, before joining the Environment Agency in 1999 as a waste policy advisor and project manager. There, she met Phil Saunders, a technical manager for waste treatment, who shared her love of travel. Together they visited countries including Nepal, Iceland and Cuba, and had two children, Madelaine and Elian.
In 2009 Miranda started work at the Welsh government, initially in waste policy, and then becoming senior legislation manager of the Education Directorate in 2017. During her time there she delivered many policies and procedures, such as waste surveys, lowering the voting age and improving sexual health education. Wales’s national plan for music education, whose drafting Miranda led, was launched by the first minister in May 2022. On the day she was taken into palliative care, her work on music education was named runner up in the “delivering results” category at the government’s internal awards.
Alongside work in the 1990s and early 2000s she completed a master’s in applied environmental geology at Cardiff University and then another in computer science at the University of Glamorgan (now part of the University of South Wales). She had a phenomenal knowledge of many subjects, including American history and politics, rugby and astronomy, making her a great addition to any quiz team.
In 2022 Miranda drove her family more than 5,000 miles on a trip across Europe, visiting 11 countries in six weeks. Following a long engagement, Miranda and Phil were married in Ty BrynGwyn, the hospice where she was cared for her in the days before she died.
She is survived by Phil, Madelaine and Elian; by Phil’s children, John and me; and by John’s children, Isla and Eve.
