Candidate for
Mayor; City of Bakersfield

Biography of Wade Tavorn

Wade Tavorn was born on December 15, 1952 in Oakland, California, the first child of William and Aserlee Tavorn. The Tavorn's only lived in California for several years when Aserlee Tavorn divorced William and moved back to Little Rock, Arkansas. Aserlee raised Wade Tavorn in Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Star City, Arkansas during the civil rights movement. The oldest child and only boy of five children, Wade learned how to share, care and lead at an early age in this socially active time. At a time when most students did not go to college, Aserlee was determined that all of her children would get a college education even though she did not have the finances to support this dream. So she promoted education as a way to reach your goals with a lot of faith, hope and charity.

While Wade was growing up, his mother moved many times to keep the family one step out of poverty. There were times when the children would spend several years on the farm with their grandmother. This is where Wade learned the value of hard work and family unity. He would work from early in the morning until late at night in the fields helping his grandmother bring in the crops. With the help of his Uncle's and cousins his small body slowly turned into a man. There were times when it looked like the day would never end for Wade, but he never gave up hope on his mother's dream of him going to college.

Wade got that scholarship and went college in Chicago, Illinois. However, the journey through school was disrupted when he was drafted into the Marines. But his mother's dream was not to be denied, Nixon ended the war and Wade went back to college where he got his first degree in Music. Not able to find a job in his profession, he trained in retail where he worked for 24 years.

During his time in retail, he married and had two children. But the constant relocating was too much for his first wife, they got a divorce and he was awarded the children. For ten years Wade raised his two children by himself living in Los Angeles and Orange County.

In 1988, Wade was transferred to Bakersfield. He worked in retail until 1995 when he and his new wife started a computer consultant company. With the success of the computer company, Wade was able to get another degree in teaching. Shirley and Wade had a son who was multi-racial. Their views about life and the community changed dramatically. They both became very active in all youth activities for their children from boy scouts to sports. At times the Tavorn household looked like the United Nations.

Wade later started writing letters to the editor about issues in the community and how to solve them. His writing won his Letter on the Month several times and Letter of the Year in 1997. During this time Wade ran for planning commissioner and won in 1995. His termed ended in April 1999. Wade is currently a teacher at Walter Stiern Middle School where he teaches computers.