Rebecca ' Becky ' Godwin ( September 27 , 1954August 29 , 1968 ) was the adopted daughter and only child of the then Governor of Virginia Mills E. Godwin , Jr. ( 1914-1999 ) and Katherine Beale Godwin ( 1917 – 2015 ) , of Chuckatuck , Virginia , a small community then in Nansemond County which is now a part of Suffolk . In August 1968 , Becky Godwin , a month shy of her 14th birthday , was spending a day with her mother at Virginia Beach while her father , then in his first term as Virginia governor , attended the 1968 Democratic National Convention . With the customary state police nearby , she had just stepped out of the surf onto the sand when she was struck by lightning . Several people were in the vicinity either on the beach or in the surf , but Godwin was the only one affected . While the beach area was sunny , eyewitnesses reported that there was a thunderstorm offshore on the horizon at the time . Although rushed to a hospital , she never regained consciousness . There are three scholarships set up in Becky Godwin 's name . There is the Becky Godwin Memorial college scholarship fund for the young people of Chuckatuck , Virginia and the Becky Godwin Fund at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing . At Mills E. Godwin High School in Henrico County , the Becky Godwin Memorial Award is given annually to a senior selected by classmates . At Virginia Wesleyan College , there is the Becky Katherine Godwin Memorial Scholarship . Governor Godwin was a founding Trustee of the College
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Becky Godwin