A young Tennessee woman was struck and killed by lightning on one of her favorite North Carolina mountain trails only moments before her boyfriend was about to propose to her, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

Richard Butler, 30, said he and Bethany Lott, 25, both from Knoxville, had ignored the rain and kept heading up Max Patch Bald, a spot that Bethany had longed to show him.

In his pocket, he had his own surprise -- an engagement ring.

See a video report above or click here.

About 30 seconds before the lightning struck, Butler tells the newspaper, Lott turned around to say: "'God, baby, look how beautiful it is.'"

Butler, who suffered second-degree burns in the ordeal, says he remembers seeing three lightning flashes.

"I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back," he says. "My legs turned to Jell-O, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire."

He then crawled to Bethany, who was lying motionless only a few feet away.

"I did CPR for probably 15 minutes and the whole time was trying her cellphone, but I couldn't get anything out," Butler says.

Hen then drove for help, but it was too late.

"I put the ring on her finger while the EMTs were working on her," he tells the Citizen-Times. "They are listing me as her fiancé in the obituaries."

Update at 11:17 a.m. ET on 6/9/10: Butler called us this morning to clarify that while it had been raining as he and Bethany drove to the area, "it was clear when we got to Max Patch Bald, it was not even raining."

Butler, a very soft-spoken young man, says the couple certainly would not have made the trek up the mountain if the rainstorm had not already stopped.

(Posted by Doug Stanglin)