Beckwith was born in Norfolk, Virginia;[1] she is the daughter of Charles Langdale and Lorraine (Sterneberg) Shank.

Beckwith received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 and her Juris Doctor in 1968, both from the University of Cincinnati.

From 1989 to 1991 she was also an associate with the Cincinnati law firm of Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP.

[1] She has served on commissions on lawyers' professional responsibility, prison overcrowding, death penalty appeals, and computerization of the courts.

Since 1996, she has been a board member of the Cincinnati chapter of the American Red Cross.