Josef Franz Goller

Josef Franz (“Joe”) Goller, age 76, passed away peacefully at his home in Nashville, Tennessee on March 9, 2020. He was preceded in death by his father, Josef Karl Goller II; mother, Josefa Anna (Gamp) Goller; a sister, Charlotte Amalia (Goller) Ahlstrand; three brothers, Heinz, Erich and Peter Goller; brother-in-law Norman Ahlstrand; sister-in-law Trude Goller; nephews Gary and John Ahlstrand; and nephew-in-law Steven Cota.

Joe was born in Vienna, Austria in 1943 and immigrated to the United States at age 13 with his parents and next oldest brother Peter, resettling in Los Angeles, California. Joe became a United States citizen in 1958. Several years after receiving his high school diploma, Joe attended hair stylist school and was a barber for a time. He had many adventures in California, including teaching himself to read and write music and penning a number of country / pop songs, writing poetry and fighting forest fires. He was happy to embark on a new adventure when he moved across the country to Nashville, Tennessee in 1988 with a one-way plane ticket, a duffle bag and a guitar.

He lived at Matthew 25, Inc. during his first months in Nashville while looking for work in his new hometown and also worked there as a counselor for homeless men. Through Matthew 25 he met publisher Robert Wolf of Free River Press who several years later published a book of Joe’s poems. He also met new friends who offered him work in construction which eventually led him to being part of a renovation crew in a home where he met his future wife.

After marrying Barbara Brown in 1992 and settling with her in their East Nashville neighborhood, Joe continued to work in construction and also again worked part-time as a counselor in drug and alcohol rehab. After spying a golf cart-turned-mobile-hot-dog-stand in the fenced yard of the local pawn shop, he embarked on a new career in food service, serving hot dogs on the streets of the then rapidly redeveloping downtown historic district on 2nd Avenue, in Centennial Park and within several live music venues.

In 1994, he and his wife purchased an existing neighborhood business that had originally been the location of the first Dairy Queen in Nashville, serving burgers, shakes and soft serve ice cream year-round and renamed it “Moonbeams”, while still running his mobile hot dog service.

After several years of having his eye on a nearby dilapidated junk store property, in 1995 Joe and his wife purchased the building which he redeveloped for a year and a half into a restaurant that opened as Joe’s Diner in March 1997. When a tornado slammed through downtown and East Nashville in April 1998, Joe survived with one of his patrons-turned- best friend Bruce Hawkins in the walk-in cooler of the restaurant. Determined to rise again, he reopened Joe’s Diner as a restaurant and music venue after four months of reconstruction and remained in business for another three years.

After handing off the Joe’s Diner location to a new restaurant venture now known as Rosepepper Cantina, Joe continued his interest in the redevelopment of older, overlooked buildings in the area and put his construction experience to use renovating several of them in a neighborhood that, after the tornado, became an increasingly popular part of a growing city. The construction adventures were not without their challenges, several of which put him on a first name basis with the head of Metro Codes and Zoning!

Over the years Joe enjoyed writing music and playing guitar, hunting for vintage items while traveling country roads, traveling back to his home country of Austria and his wife’s home state of Vermont, honing his skills at vacationing in an RV, playing pool (something he was doing when he dove into that walk-in cooler in April 1998), seeing businesses in the neighborhood thrive in locations that he helped redevelop, playing dominoes, and hanging out with his family, friends and pets. Joe was known as a straight-talker who didn’t mince words – you always knew where you stood with Joe!

Joe is survived by his wife of 28 years, Barbara Ann Brown; a son, Sterling Josef Goller-Brown of Nashville; a daughter, Raven Nicole Goller-Brown of Nashville; sister-in-laws Hermine (Horak) Goller of Tennessee, Brenda (Sherman) Goller of Iowa, and Holly Gathright of Vermont; brother-in-law James William Brown of Vermont; nieces Monica (Goller) Cota of Tennessee, Charlotte (Ahlstrand) Martin of California, Sue (Ahlstrand) Gardner of Michigan, Angela (Ahlstrand) Yokom of Michigan, Cindy (Ahlstrand) Ringenberg of Washington; and nephews Erich Goller, Jr. of California, Michael Ahlstrand of Washington, and James Ahlstrand of California. Joe is also survived by numerous cousins, great-nieces, great-nephews and beloved friends, neighbors and business colleagues from over the years, and his beloved cat Mitten and dog Jumanji.

Visitation with family and a Celebration of Life for Joe was originally targeted to be held at the end of March 2020, however, in light of the then rapidly changing public health concerns about the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, the family postponed their memorial event. We have now scheduled a memorial celebration of Joe’s life for Sunday, November 13, 2022, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm on the deck of Rosepepper Cantina, 1907 Eastland Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206. Joe would have turned 79 on November 11, 2022, so this feels like an appropriate time to honor his memory with a gathering of family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Please think of your personal best “Joe story” that you can tell in 2 minutes or less during our gathering! We will be serving afternoon Mexican finger foods and there will be a cash bar.

The family wants to thank everyone for their many kindnesses that have been given / sent to them by many means since Joe’s passing.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly suggests that memorial donations can be made in Joe’s name to any of the following non-profits: Matthew 25 Nashville (https://www.matthew25nashville.org/support-m25), Shriners Hospitals for Children (https://lovetotherescue.org/), and/or Nashville Humane Association (https://nashvillehumane.org/).

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