Lystra Lewis was born in Woodbrook, Trinidad and Tobago in 1924. She attended Tranquility Girls School and later went to England through a British Council scholarship to study Physical Education at Bedford College.

Early in her life, she participated in many sporting activities and selected netball as her sport of choice. Although she started her involvement in the game as a player, she excelled as a coach, umpire, tester and administrator. She served at all levels of the administration for the game, including President of West Indies Netball Board, President of the Caribbean Netball Association, President of the Americas Federation of Netball Associations, and Vice President of the International Federation of Netball Associations.

She has been credited with many firsts in the netball fraternity in Trinidad and Tobago and the region. Some highlights of her career include: 1939 - Founding Member of the Port of Spain Netball league; 1949-Founding Member of the Trinidad and Tobago Netball Association; 1954 -Founding member of the West Indies Netball Board, forerunner to the Caribbean Netball Association; 1960 -Caribbean representative at the Ceylon conference which agreed to the formation of the International Federation of Women’s Basketball and Netball Association and an International Code of Rules for Netball. 1960-First West Indian to receive the All England Panel Award for Umpiring; 1961 -First Government Netball Coach; 1969-Recipient of the Medal of Merit for Sport (Netball) at the First Trinidad and Tobago National Awards; 1974-Founding Member of the Caribbean Netball Association; 1979 -Coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Netball team which was victorious at the World Netball Championships hosted in Trinidad and Tobago. This was the first country to host and win the championships.