If the Retirement Board shall find on the basis of such evidence as may come before it that a Group D member in service died prior to retirement under the System as the natural and proximate result of an accident occurring at a definite time and place during the course of the member's performance of duty as an employee, and that such accident was not the result of the member's own gross negligence or willful misconduct, a retirement allowance shall be paid the member's dependent beneficiary during the beneficiary's life. The terms and conditions of such payments shall be the same as those prescribed for Group C members as defined in 3 V.S.A. § 464. (Added 1999, No. 61, § 8.)