A North Texas man found his long-lost father, a veteran, through a DNA test and made him a new home, reported NBC DFW.
Until now, Mark Elliot never knew who his father was.
“I remember, you know, as a child, and I just cried and I said, ‘God, how come I didn’t get a dad?’ You know, ‘how come I didn’t get to have that relationship,'” Elliott told NBC DFW.
Before her death, Elliot’s mother shared the name of the man she thought was his father. But DNA tests determined that he was not the right man. However, the DNA results did lead Elliot to the family of Arley Bewley, 88, who connected the two to each other by phone.
Elliot recalled that he pleaded with Bewley not to hang up when he told him that he thought he was his father.
“And his words were, ‘I think you might be my father.’ So naturally, I had to hear the rest of that,” Bewley said, recalling his first conversation with Elliot.
When Elliot and his wife, Sherry, went to see Bewley, they were appalled by his living conditions.
“We walked into his house and immediately, it was very hard, because of the situation that he was living in. We literally had to knock mice and rats off the bed,” Elliott said.
“This is someone who served our country. This is a senior citizen that deserves livable conditions,” Sherry Elliott told NBC DFW.
Mark and Sherry Elliot bought a shed and, with the help of local volunteers from Veterans’ Resource and Outreach Center, 2 Gals Construction, Third Watch Motorcycle Club, Military Plumbing, and the local Home Depot, they attempted to make the shed livable.
Bewley is now living next door to his long-lost family.
“I now have five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren,” Bewley said. “It’s hard to describe how important the two of them and their family has (sic) been in my life. I hope that I’m able to live a little bit longer, where we’re going to enjoy it.”
Elliott says each day together is like a prayer that has been answered. “I remembered Mark saying, ‘when I was a kid, I would lay in bed and pray for a dad,’ and now he gets to pray with his dad,” Sherry Elliott said.
The family hopes that their story highlights the need to support aging veterans.
