Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that tore Joplin apart, causing 161 deaths in the deadliest tornado on record in the United States since official records were released in 1950.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the US Department of Commerce, damage to the built environment has approached $ 3 billion, also making it the costliest tornado on record.

Shortly after the 2011 tornado, Theo Mason, an Arkansas native who grew up on Noel, witnessed the destruction while working in his health care job that took him to him to Joplin.

“I was going to some of the customers north of where the tornado damage occurred,” Mason said. “A lot of the streets I had to take knew me, when I got to the area it was the first time right after the tornado, I got up there and I couldn’t find my way. It was horrible.”

“As a young kid I was always amused by storms and tornadoes and everything, my favorite movie was The Twister with Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt,” Mason added. “But actually, seeing something like that hit our home region and seeing the devastation and what really happened, it just tore me apart. On an emotional level, I tried to manage as much as I could, but all of these things made me write something and one day it spilled over onto paper.

Mason grew up in the church and has always been drawn to gospel music. He sings positive country music, has written several gospel songs and describes his songs as more “ gospel with a country sound ”,

As a child he would walk around singing songs he had invented, and as a teenager he would start writing songs and poetry.

“I would say it was kind of a calling,” Mason said of what drew him to songwriting and poetry. “I always felt called and the words came to me. As I got older, around 2012 and after, I started to write a little more. Things have come to me; lines came to me and I tried to run with it and write songs. It was in 2014 that I wrote the song called “The Twister”.

Mason has been performing locally since 2004 and although he is a singer and songwriter, he does not play any instruments.

Last year, around the time the pandemic started, he was online and saw a post from Jared Easter. Easter traveled with Jeff, his cousin, and Sheri Easter, a well-known southern gospel group.

“I noticed Jared posted an article online saying he wanted to help artists or songwriters make their songs,” Mason said. “He wanted extra work because they weren’t getting a lot of shows because of COVID. I had texted him to see if he could do anything with just words. I was amazed at what he was able to do with my words. He arranged my songs, I just sent him my lyrics and he did the rest.

It was the first time that Mason had contacted someone to help him put together songs and it was perfect. Mason even said that the first time he heard one of his songs come back, he was brought to tears because of its good sound.

One of the many things that inspired The Twister’s lyrics was Will Norton, an 18-year-old Joplin High School graduate who fell victim to the tornado just hours after graduating from high school.

“I kept hearing these stories and sure enough I saw a lot of the post tornado news and they were looking for Will,” Mason said. “He was just one of many who had perished that day. When I heard his story, I kind of wanted to write at least part of the song to him and the others who lost their lives.

Lyrics from the third verse:

It was followed by so many

On the Internet

Will just graduate from Joplin high

He was looking forward to even better things

He was on his way with his father

But the twister changed his plans

He will be missed and loved by so many people

And his memory cherished by his friends

He and the others will not be forgotten

Mason told the Neosho Daily News that writing the entire song a few years after the event itself came from seeing and hearing more accounts in the years that followed.

“People mentioned that they had seen, they called them ‘butterfly people’, out of the storm that they had seen, and I knew they were talking about angels,” Mason said. “These stories of these angels and what these people saw during the storm is what started it all.”

Last year, Mason was going through a binder of all the songs he had written for the next song he would seek to get music for a song he could sing. He thought it sounded like a poem more than anything and wasn’t sure if he wanted to do something with it or not.

After chatting with family members at the time who were helping him decide which song to do next, they all chose The Twister. Mason had already written a chorus and verses and sent them to Easter, which put the arrangements together.

The Twister was officially released as a single on April 21, 2021 on Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon.

Mason’s work can be found on YouTube by searching, “ Theodore Arthur Mason ”

Verse 1

The sun has set in Jasper County

And the thunder began to roar

The promotion has just had its ceremony

But no one knew what to expect

It was half past five

The storm was in the air

As the twister swept his way through town

Take lives like it doesn’t care

He came to town with a roar

But Joplin has never felt so lonely before

Chorus

There were prayers going up

There were angels coming down

And the love of God was everywhere

But there was all kinds of destruction in this town

And as the storm raged and got out of hand

Some people felt hopeless and alone

During this storm in their life, God takes another home

Verse 2

Towards St. Johns the twister made its way

Staff were getting ready

Then the intercom announced the black state

Everyone was afraid

They clung to their dear life

There was no turning back

The twister was hitting them

Like a train that didn’t pay attention to its own tracks

And it tore the hospital to shreds

All over Joplin they found dead people

Verse 3

It was followed by so many

On the Internet

Will just graduate from Joplin high

He was looking forward to even better things

He was on his way with his father

But the twister changed his plans

He will be missed and loved by so many people

And his memory cherished by his friends

He and the others will not be forgotten

And that day, the twister demolished Joplin.