Once-homeless son reunites with mom in L.A. after 20 years

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David Abeyta and his mother, Mary Schofield, look over photos of David in his youth after being reunited at SRO Housing Corp.’s Gateway Apartments in Los Angeles. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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David Abeyta and his mother Mary Schofield hug each other after the two are reunited at the SRO Housing Corp.’s Gateway Apartments in Los Angeles. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Tears well up in Mary Schofield eyes after being reunited with her son, David Abeyta. The two were reunited after one of his brothers tracked him down on the Internet. Abeyta, an Air Force vet, was homeless. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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David Abeyta and his mother, Mary Schofield, look at family photos together. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Surrounded by news media, David Abeyta and his mother, Mary Schofield, share a Mother’s Day moment together. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

By Alicia Banks

May 9, 2014 4:15 PM PT

United States Air Force veteran David Abeyta’s life spiraled out of control more than 20 years ago when he lost a child, his wife and his job and was left with an ongoing battle with Hepatitis C.

Abeyta, 51, shared his story with an organization dedicated to transitioning people from homelessness to stability, SRO Housing Corp. The group is providing housing for Abeyta in Gateways Apartments as he studies to become a drug counselor.

What Abeyta did not know was that his mother, Mary Schoefield, 71, of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., was looking for him. Neither did his brothers. One of them came across Abeyta’s story on SRO Housing’s website in January.

“We never stopped looking.... My face has his road map, my hair has the dust of the walks I’ve taken looking for him,” Schoefield said in a news release.

On Friday, just in time for Mother’s Day, Abeyta’s mother and stepfather drove seven hours for a reunion in his new place at Gateways Apartments in downtown Los Angeles’ skid row.

Mother and son embraced, and Schoefield’s eyes welled. They nestled at the foot of Abeyta’s bed, flipping through the pages of a scrapbook his mother made. The pictures showed a smiling Abeyta dressed in a blue sweater as a child and him older, dressed in his Air Force uniform when he enlisted in 1981.

In a statement, Abeyta compared homelessness to being in a dark well where those looking in pray for you, lower food or pass judgment and say your situation is deserved. But SRO reaches in and pulls you out, he said.

“I’m very proud to be a part of something so wonderful,” Abeyta wrote.

Next, Abeyta plans to see his two older brothers again.