Billy P. Mcfall

Billy P. McFall, age 68, passed away Tuesday, December 7, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee, after a long battle with dementia.

He was born in 1953 in what was then Madison College, TN, to the late Leonard and Lucy Ann Grider McFall.  When Bill was five, the family settled on a small farm in Russell County, KY. Bill adored life on the farm and spent much of his childhood hunting and fishing with his older brother Larry and their dad and learning to cook from his beloved mother, whom the family affectionally called Polly. When he got older, Bill taught himself how to play guitar in the thin stairwell of the family farmhouse. To this day, the Russell County farm remains hallowed ground for the McFall family, with Bill and Larry having gathered there with their own families for years after their parents’ passing.

After graduating from Russell County High School, Bill enrolled at Western Kentucky University, where he quickly developed a passion for television production. Bill loved everything about the art and science of television production. And after graduation, moved to Nashville to pursue a career in the field.

In the early days, as Bill told it, he was happy to put anything on television an audience would watch and that standards would clear. From telethons to televangelists, if it could go on television, Bill would produce it. He went on to work with the local Channel 17 in Nashville, The Nashville Network, and MTV Networks.  He finished his career as a Vice President of Remote Operations for Viacom Media Networks and the Music Group of MTV Networks. In that position, Bill traveled the country, running the technical operations of the many major award shows and live television productions of the MTV family of networks. He leaves behind a close group of road-warrior engineers and crew, many of whom he had worked with in some capacity for decades.

While Bill was at Western, he also discovered the other great passion of his life—his loving wife Joan. Bill and Joan were almost immediately inseparable and were married after just over a year of dating. The wedding was simple for the young couple—only 19 and 18 at the time. The venue was a small red brick church not far from campus in Bowling Green. The guests included just an officiant and two witnesses. The couple could only afford one wedding band, which Joan wore.

From that day forward, the couple’s love for and commitment to one another was deep and abiding. Over the course of their relationship, each was a dedicated caregiver to the other. In 50 years together, the couple rarely spent more than a few days apart, despite Bill’s busy travel schedule. Their love lives on in their only son, Shaun, with whom Bill shared a particularly close bond.

Bill was a very loving and caring husband and father. He enjoyed playing guitar, writing songs, and poetry. He was an independent spirit and thinker. He is greatly missed.

Those left to cherish Bill’s memory are his wife of nearly 50 years, Joan; son, Shaun McFall (Sophie); brother, Larry McFall (Rosalind); nephews, Jason and Greg (Jessica); niece, Rebecca (Barrett) and her children, Ella and Ian.

A private service of close family and friends is being handled by Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens and Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks loved ones to consider donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Nashville Rescue Mission, or Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.