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.