By FRED KRONER
They were teen-aged girls in the 1970s, attending Mahomet-Seymour High School and graduating one year apart.
They were acquaintances who shared some similar interests, such as Marching Band and chorus.
Decades later, they still keep in touch and exchange Christmas cards.
They talked by phone earlier this week.
On the July day that the first of these two young ladies got married, by the time the ceremony ended, there were two women named Becky Kuhns in the church.
This is a story about Becky Kuhns and the former Becky Kuhns.
***
In 1977, Becky Kuhns graduated from M-S. She had lived her entire life in Mahomet, for a time on a farmstead northwest of town and later inside the village limits.
When she was born, she had an unique distinction. Her oldest brother, Don Kuhns, then had a 1-year-old son.
“I was an aunt when I was born,” she said.
Her nephew was Dave Kuhns. His senior year at M-S, in 1976, he started dating Becky Bull.
Three years later, they married and Becky Bull became Becky Kuhns.
“The cool thing about knowing the other Becky was when you get married and change your name, it sounds weird for a while, but not for me,” Becky Bull Kuhns said. “I had heard the name for years.”
She was accustomed to seeing the ‘other’ Becky Kuhns at family holiday gatherings. The ‘other’ Becky Kuhns didn’t mind sharing the name.
“I thought it was pretty awesome that my name would be carried on when Becky married Dave Kuhns,” she said.
For more than a year, there were two Becky Kuhns living in Central Illinois.
In September, 1980, the ‘other’ Becky Kuhns got married. She is now Becky Kuhns Burkland.
Her husband, too, is named Dave.
“That was a weird coincidence that causes me to have to use our full name on Christmas cards and gifts at holidays,” Becky Bull Kuhns said. “I can’t just put Dave and Becky, although I occasionally will write ‘the other Dave and Becky.’”
She likes to have fun with the name.
“I also like to tell her I am the ‘new and improved’ Becky Kuhns,” said Becky Bull Kuhns.
Even before her wedding, Becky Bull Kuhns knew Becky Kuhns Burkland’s mother.
“Her mom (Jo Kuhns) was the school cook,” Becky Bull Kuhns said.
As high school students, there was nothing to indicate that the two young ladies would wind up visiting each other’s homes for decades.
“We didn’t really hang out together,” Becky Kuhns Burkland said. “I got to know her better when she started dating Dave her sophomore year.
When their families gather to celebrate the holidays, there are two sets of Beckys and Daves in the room.
“It has been this way for so long that our family is so used to it,” Becky Kuhns Burkland said.
She is appreciative of one important and significantly different detail.
“It has been a running joke in our family with two Dave and Beckys, and we have signed cards/gifts with our last initial,” Becky Kuhns Burkland said. “Thankfully that’s not the same.”
***
Becky Bull Kuhns and her husband Dave – who celebrated their 41st anniversary on July 14 – have remained Mahomet residents throughout the years.
Becky Kuhns Burkland and her husband Dave – who celebrated their 40th anniversary on Sept. 6 – lived in Paxton from the time of their wedding until 2017, when they relocated to Kansas City, Mo., where they are close to their daughter and son-in-law as well as two grandchildren.
“I have received Facebook messages from people trying to get ahold of Becky Bull Kuhns and I’ve just directed them to her,” said Becky Kuhns Burkland, who works in human resources for the Federal Reserve Bank, in Kansas City.
Becky Bull Kuhns has had similar experiences with mistaken identities, she said, “back in the ‘80s when people only had landlines and a phone book.”
The two sets of Beckys and Daves used to see each other on a semi-regular basis.
“Becky and I always have run into each other at the Gordyville Christmas craft show and of course, at family gatherings,” Becky Kuhns Burkland said. “Since I have moved to KC, it’s harder for us to get back for the holidays, but we try to see everyone when we are back.”
The occasions when they gather now are not always ones of joy.
“We used to see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas every year,” Becky Bull Kuhns said. “Now that she has moved, mostly weddings and funerals.”
In retrospect, the two years that Dave Kuhns and Becky Kuhns Burkland were in high school together was when they received the most raised eyebrows.
“It was so odd in high school to tell friends that I was Dave and Monica’s aunt,” Becky Kuhns Burkland said. “They looked at us so funny.
“They just didn’t get it. I have several nieces and nephews close to my age, and lots of great and great, great nieces and nephews.”
For Dave Kuhns and Dave Burkland, what others might have viewed as unusual with the name game, is just a way of life for them.
“It was just always how it was,” Becky Bull Kuhns said.
Added Becky Kuhns Burkland: “He (Dave Burkland) thinks it’s pretty cool with it being a pure coincidence.”
And that is the way it is for Becky Kuhns and the former Becky Kuhns.
