Lisa Heyamoto: Stars rise in tandem for two Kevin Johnsons

On Thursday, the UC Board of Regents announced the name of the new dean of the UC Davis law school, and it should come as no surprise that it decided to tap Kevin Johnson.

Yes, after years of hard work and diligence, Johnson has been rewarded with the top job at a school with one of the highest bar-passage rights in the state.

"It's a big job," he said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge."

And by Kevin Johnson, of course, I mean Kevin R. Johnson.

Kevin R. Johnson has been mistaken for Kevin M. Johnson for most of his adult life. He gets Kevin M.'s mail, fields phone calls from his fans – even got a congratulatory e-mail when he announced his run for mayor.

"It's usually pretty amusing," Kevin R. Johnson said. "I guess if he were a prison inmate or something, it would be more troubling."

But the two share more than just a name.

When Kevin R. lived in Berkeley, Kevin M. was playing ball for the school. When Kevin M. came back to Sac, Kevin R. was already in Davis.

Could it be anything less than destiny that their stars should rise in tandem?

The two finally crossed paths at a university awards ceremony a few years back, and Kevin R. said he was very impressed with his superstar namesake.

But encounters with the other bold-name Kevin Johnsons of the world might not be quite so serendipitous, gatherings that would accommodate a boxer, a football player, a Microsoft executive, a "Lost" character, an Australian singer and a professional ventriloquist being slightly harder to come by.

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Richard Jones may not yet be in the mayor's seat, but he's definitely in the doghouse.

At the most recent televised debate, the cantankerous candidate mentioned that he overheard his wife saying she would not, in fact, be casting her vote his way.

That this is not actually the case did not sit well with Betty Jones.

"I don't know where he came up with that idea," she said. "He said it was just a joke. Well, I didn't find it very funny at the time."

So to clear things up, she will assuredly be voting for her husband, she said. But when she told him she was going to call up the newspaper to get it on the record, he thought she was joking.

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Speaking of marriage, today William and Eileen Musladin will be celebrating their 65th year of it.

The couple met during World War II when William, an Air Force officer, caught cold and was sent to the ward where his future wife was a nurse.

It was the first of three wars in which William served, the last of which brought them their adopted daughter, Thuan Bui. William had met Bui in Vietnam, and invited her to live with him and his wife while she attended college in the States. College led to grad school, and eventually the couple adopted Bui at the tender age of 36.

Now both 91, they will be fittingly feted on Armed Forces Day.

"It's a big thing for them," said Bui. "It's so amazing – 65 years."

Bui has all kinds of surprises in store for the couple, and it would be a shame to reveal them here. Suffice it to say that they will be lauded and teased in equal measure, kind of like a marriage.

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• Call The Bee's Lisa Heyamoto, (916) 321-1261.