Joseph Gerard Nall

Born on January 7th,1957 Joseph G Nall always considered himself a true Detroit native. He referred to his childhood as growing up downtown on the "westside". After graduating from Henry Ford High School, he lived above his father's candy store with his four brothers. They loved to play euchre and hang out with their friends. Joe often told stories of their dog Turbo, a German shepherd malamute mix who they found as a puppy and raised together. One of his favorite tales was how they trained Turbo to carry weights in his mouth while walking or jogging down the street, which as he described, came in handy downtown. From Turbo, to Boomer, to Murphy, Joe loved dogs, a tradition that would be passed to his children.
A lover of music, Joe prided himself as being "truly eclectic". He owned over 1000 vinyl records, which as his family recalls lovingly, no one was ever allowed to touch. His brother Michael spoke about their favorite thing to do on a Friday night, was go down the street to Peaches Record Store. There, they would spend hours looking through all the albums for small gems like Jimmy Hendrix playing with a blues band to expand their music appreciation and knowledge. This led of course to what would become his massive collection that ultimately, he would share with everyone.
Because Joe appreciated time with family so much and being surrounded by those he loved, he frequently visited his brother's house in Livonia. A true Midwest neighborhood, everyone knew one another holding bonfires, block parties, and spending time together. This is where he met Rebecca and her 3-year-old daughter Meghan, who would often ride her big wheel up and down the street.
Joe loved kids and often told the story of Meghan on her big wheel. He took pride in the fact that he was the one that taught her to play frisbee and ride a bike. He was destined to become her dad, loving her from the day they met as if they had always known each other. This was a role which he effortlessly and proudly took on. He was good at that with everyone really, just making people feel like they had been friends forever. He could talk to anyone, literally for hours and enjoy every minute of it. He had almost no filter and spoke his mind, and yet all would describe his words as kind, giving and loving to others.
Still having so much more love to give, several years later his second daughter Emily would be born joining Meghan and closely followed by his son Patrick. His three children were his whole world. He was the first person to play with them whether it was inside or out, rain, snow or sunshine. Always happy to play video games with Meghan, horse racing with Emily, and mini hockey sticks with Patrick.
When Emily was growing up, Joe was not only a dad, he was one of her best friends. On the weekends you could find them taking long trail walks through Kensington State Metro park, visiting local farm centers, or heading to the zoo. Animals were always their thing and what they bonded over most. Even in everyday conversations they would discuss any and all animal sightings comparing and contrasting all the furry creatures from both Michigan and Florida. One of the most common phrases in their conversation was the quote from the movie Elf, "So good news. I saw a dog today. "But that's truly the way things were. They were ALWAYS talking about animals.
When it was a little colder outside, the activities switched to indoors which meant, HOCKEY SEASON! Thanks to his son Patrick, Joe turned Emily into a hocky fanatic! They were always heading to the ice arena for practices, games, and tournaments. In turn, they began to love and appreciate the game so much. There was nothing like a Saturday night Plymouth Whalers game to round out the week. Good food and snacks, a roaring crowd of people for Joe to make new friends and say hi to old, a fan's shop to allow him to carry out his slight shopping addiction, and above all else, great memories.
Like Emily, some of Patrick's fondest memories growing up were going to hockey practices and games instilling in him a love for sports. They liked to take long car rides, build Legos and bonded over their shared love for American muscle cars. Often, they spent countless nights lying on the carpet digging through giant bins of Legos trying to create something new. There was never a dull moment when they were together, always finding creative ways to make life fun.
Like Joe, Patrick was small in size and grew later in life. He was fast on the ice, and this taught him how to compete with the bigger kids. No matter what sport he picked up, Joe taught him to give it everything he had. Always having some type of ball in his hand Joe was ready to play catch or goalie or anything he needed to spend time with his son. Joe would always say to Patrick "You'll never beat the old man in anything" which fueled his competitiveness. He was right though, the only thing he ever beat him at was one game of ping pong that one time which was a moment Patrick would never forget.
One of the biggest lessons he taught was to make the most out of every situation and to stick with your family. Because above all else, he loved his family saying that "we're all riding together". He considered his three children his greatest joy in life, that both they and he believed were very well lived. Now in spirit, he leaves behind Meghan, Emily & Patrick along with his four grand puppies, Lucky, Merlin, Zoey & Luna whom he also loved just as dearly.
Visitation at the O'Brien/Sullivan Funeral Home 41555 Grand River Novi Wednesday 4:00pm until 8:00pm
a celebration of the life of Joe will be held Thursday 10:00am at the funeral home.