October 11, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Walter Gretzky died at the age of 82. His death prompted an avalanche of tributes for a genuine, approachable, authentic person who nurtured the unsurpassed hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky, on the family's famed backyard rink in Brantford, Ontario. The 60-year-old NHL legend-turned-American citizen spoke shortly after laying his father to rest.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
That's our American Stories dot com. They're some of our favorites.
Known as Canada's hockey dad, Walter Gretzky died at the
age of eighty two. His death prompted an avalanche of
(00:31):
tributes for an approachable, authentic person who nurtured the unsurpassed
hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky on the family's
fame backyard rink in Branford, Ontario. Walter suffered a serious
brain aneurism, which robbed him of much of his memory
in two thousand and seven that includes many of Wayne's
biggest moments. The sixty year old NHL legend turned American
(00:55):
citizen delivered remarks at the Saint Mark's Anglican Church in Branford,
shortly after laying his father to rest. Wayne stepped up
to the podium in front of family heeded in the
pews and reminisced about his father's life. Here's Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you, and obviously, with the pandemic that we've had,
it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world in Canada,
North America. I really wanted to tell everyone that my
dad and my sister and our family were so conscious
(01:34):
of it that COVID had nothing to do with the
passing of my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago he
sustained a bad hip injury, and as he just said earlier,
we thought weeks ago that the end was here. He
has a tremendous amount of faith, faith like I've never seen.
(01:57):
But he had a love for life and he didn't
want to leave. And we were twenty one days sitting
with them and just enjoying life, and we got a
chance and an opportunity to tell stories. Our grandchildren had
never seen my dad after his brain aneurysm, and we
(02:17):
were telling them all, you're thankful that you didn't know
him before his brain aneurism, because he was a lot tougher.
So it's been a tough time. I wanted to thank
everyone in the community who dropped off food, who dropped
off sandwiches. They knew we were all there for twenty
(02:39):
one days. My sister was a champ. She was beside
him each and every minute of the day. The grandkids
were wonderful. My dad and Mom, I know, are so proud,
so I thought I would tell a couple of stories
I didn't know. I spent the last four nights talking
with my wife Janet, thinking what I was gonna say,
(03:02):
and like I usually do, I try to just kind
of wing it and speak from my heart. So years ago,
as everyone knows, my dad was such a huge sports
fan and hockey guy, and we were playing in a
hockey tournament outside of Toronto, and my dad was so
(03:25):
proud of the fact we're going to play against better
teams than little towns in this area. And on a
Friday night, we're going to the tournament and my mom
said to him, Walter, we're gonna have this baby this weekend,
and he said it's okay, you can wait till we
get back. So Brant was born on the Saturday. We
(03:51):
went to this tournament in Whitby, Ontario. We played against
good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Marley's Nationals. We
won the tournament. We got in the car and we
weren't sure if the car could get us back from
Oshawa to Branford. So we finally got back and the
(04:11):
next day, Mom came home with Brent. People were coming by, families, friends, sisters,
congratulations on the baby, and every single person would say
to my dad, well, Walter, I can't believe you missed
the birth of your son. So our next to our neighbor,
Maria Rosetta, came over. She was the last person to
(04:32):
come over. She said, Walter, I can't believe you missed
the birth of Brent. And when she walked out the door,
he was so mad. He stood up and he grabbed
the trophy and he goes, yes, but we got the trophy.
So as time goes on, he was so nice to
(04:52):
all the grandchildren. Every grandchild loved him close to each
and every one of them. They understood how important he
was not only to our family, but to the culture
of Canada. He came here his family as an immigrant.
They came here because they wanted a better life. I
don't think I've ever met a prouder Canadian than my dad.
(05:16):
And all my five children are American born in the
United States, and I always tell them you should be
as proud of the United States as your grandfather is
of Canada, because that's how much he loves the country.
So I always tell my kids, you know, there's nothing
better in life than family. So my dad would come
(05:38):
every year to our summer house. My son Tai Trevor Tristan,
they had a hockey school and Dad would come out.
He'd go to the rink sign autographs like he always does.
And we were playing golf one day and he's picking
(05:59):
up golf balls and I'm like, we have all these
golf balls. What are all these golf balls for? And
finally the next day Ty Trevor Tristan, my friend Mike
and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're in the rough,
they're grabbing all these balls and I finally grab them.
I said, you guys got to stop grabbing golf balls.
(06:20):
And I'm like, what do you mean your dad wants
them for the kids. I said, I know he wants
them for the kids, but I got to sign him
for the kids. So I take my dad at the
airport at five am. Sure enough, we get to the airport,
there's this two big bags and my brother Glenn, he
runs out of the car. He's going to get a
cup of coffee. My dad goes, you'll sign these for
the kids, right, I'm like, oh my god, so there
(06:43):
was signing for hours, but that's how he was. He
just he was a remarkable man who loved life, love family.
We'd be a way better world if there were so
many more people like my dad. Very special. We're all hurting.
This is a tough time. I'm so proud of the
fact that so many people have reached out and given
(07:06):
him such great tributes because he deserves it. He has
a heart of gold and just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Wayne Gretzky eulogizing his father.
And by the way, though he suffered tremendous memory loss
due to that brain aneurysm, the father did remember many
accounts of his own personal faith. And we have a
couple of quotes from you in our family. Walter once said,
we're all Christians, and we all help each other. It's
(07:39):
due unto others as you would like done unto yourself.
Walter also said in twenty thirteen that one morning during
his rehabilitation, he woke up and couldn't stop singing all
of amazing grace and that will be all the verses.
He drove my therapist nuts. He said, for my sister
and three brothers, Dad was our team. Captain Wayne said
(08:01):
he guided, protected and led our family every day, every
step of the way. And by the way, we would
love to hear your stories about your father, your mother.
And we love eulogies. I mean not that we love it.
There's a death, but there inevitably is for all of us.
And the eulogy is a summary of a life, written
by people closest to the person that's departed. And so
(08:25):
if you have a great eulogy in mind from a
family member or someone else, our favorite here on this show,
and I think there are two. Swen Nader, a player
who had played for John Wooden, wrote a poem for coach.
Swen was a poet, a great ballplayer, but a poet,
and it was spectacular. And then my favorite, my personal favorite,
(08:46):
was Jack Nicholas eulogizing Arnold Bamer and telling the world
what made Arnold special. So if you have those stories eulogies,
and if you have a recording, will be still my heart,
send it our way, send it to our America Stories
dot com. Wayne Gretzky eulogizes his father and one can
(09:06):
tell there was great love there. And when you have
a father's love and a mother's love. You're privileged, and
when you don't well enough, said Wayne Gretzky's eulogy of
his father. Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
That's our American Stories dot com. They're some of our favorites.
Known as Canada's hockey dad, Walter Gretzky died at the
age of eighty two. His death prompted an avalanche of
(00:31):
tributes for an approachable, authentic person who nurtured the unsurpassed
hockey talents of his son, Wayne Gretzky on the family's
fame backyard rink in Branford, Ontario. Walter suffered a serious
brain aneurism, which robbed him of much of his memory
in two thousand and seven that includes many of Wayne's
biggest moments. The sixty year old NHL legend turned American
(00:55):
citizen delivered remarks at the Saint Mark's Anglican Church in Branford,
shortly after laying his father to rest. Wayne stepped up
to the podium in front of family heeded in the
pews and reminisced about his father's life. Here's Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you, and obviously, with the pandemic that we've had,
it's been horrible for everyone throughout the world in Canada,
North America. I really wanted to tell everyone that my
dad and my sister and our family were so conscious
(01:34):
of it that COVID had nothing to do with the
passing of my father. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago he
sustained a bad hip injury, and as he just said earlier,
we thought weeks ago that the end was here. He
has a tremendous amount of faith, faith like I've never seen.
(01:57):
But he had a love for life and he didn't
want to leave. And we were twenty one days sitting
with them and just enjoying life, and we got a
chance and an opportunity to tell stories. Our grandchildren had
never seen my dad after his brain aneurysm, and we
(02:17):
were telling them all, you're thankful that you didn't know
him before his brain aneurism, because he was a lot tougher.
So it's been a tough time. I wanted to thank
everyone in the community who dropped off food, who dropped
off sandwiches. They knew we were all there for twenty
(02:39):
one days. My sister was a champ. She was beside
him each and every minute of the day. The grandkids
were wonderful. My dad and Mom, I know, are so proud,
so I thought I would tell a couple of stories
I didn't know. I spent the last four nights talking
with my wife Janet, thinking what I was gonna say,
(03:02):
and like I usually do, I try to just kind
of wing it and speak from my heart. So years ago,
as everyone knows, my dad was such a huge sports
fan and hockey guy, and we were playing in a
hockey tournament outside of Toronto, and my dad was so
(03:25):
proud of the fact we're going to play against better
teams than little towns in this area. And on a
Friday night, we're going to the tournament and my mom
said to him, Walter, we're gonna have this baby this weekend,
and he said it's okay, you can wait till we
get back. So Brant was born on the Saturday. We
(03:51):
went to this tournament in Whitby, Ontario. We played against
good teams like Burlington, Oshawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Marley's Nationals. We
won the tournament. We got in the car and we
weren't sure if the car could get us back from
Oshawa to Branford. So we finally got back and the
(04:11):
next day, Mom came home with Brent. People were coming by, families, friends, sisters,
congratulations on the baby, and every single person would say
to my dad, well, Walter, I can't believe you missed
the birth of your son. So our next to our neighbor,
Maria Rosetta, came over. She was the last person to
(04:32):
come over. She said, Walter, I can't believe you missed
the birth of Brent. And when she walked out the door,
he was so mad. He stood up and he grabbed
the trophy and he goes, yes, but we got the trophy.
So as time goes on, he was so nice to
(04:52):
all the grandchildren. Every grandchild loved him close to each
and every one of them. They understood how important he
was not only to our family, but to the culture
of Canada. He came here his family as an immigrant.
They came here because they wanted a better life. I
don't think I've ever met a prouder Canadian than my dad.
(05:16):
And all my five children are American born in the
United States, and I always tell them you should be
as proud of the United States as your grandfather is
of Canada, because that's how much he loves the country.
So I always tell my kids, you know, there's nothing
better in life than family. So my dad would come
(05:38):
every year to our summer house. My son Tai Trevor Tristan,
they had a hockey school and Dad would come out.
He'd go to the rink sign autographs like he always does.
And we were playing golf one day and he's picking
(05:59):
up golf balls and I'm like, we have all these
golf balls. What are all these golf balls for? And
finally the next day Ty Trevor Tristan, my friend Mike
and Tom, they're in the fairway, they're in the rough,
they're grabbing all these balls and I finally grab them.
I said, you guys got to stop grabbing golf balls.
(06:20):
And I'm like, what do you mean your dad wants
them for the kids. I said, I know he wants
them for the kids, but I got to sign him
for the kids. So I take my dad at the
airport at five am. Sure enough, we get to the airport,
there's this two big bags and my brother Glenn, he
runs out of the car. He's going to get a
cup of coffee. My dad goes, you'll sign these for
the kids, right, I'm like, oh my god, so there
(06:43):
was signing for hours, but that's how he was. He
just he was a remarkable man who loved life, love family.
We'd be a way better world if there were so
many more people like my dad. Very special. We're all hurting.
This is a tough time. I'm so proud of the
fact that so many people have reached out and given
(07:06):
him such great tributes because he deserves it. He has
a heart of gold and just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you've been listening to Wayne Gretzky eulogizing his father.
And by the way, though he suffered tremendous memory loss
due to that brain aneurysm, the father did remember many
accounts of his own personal faith. And we have a
couple of quotes from you in our family. Walter once said,
we're all Christians, and we all help each other. It's
(07:39):
due unto others as you would like done unto yourself.
Walter also said in twenty thirteen that one morning during
his rehabilitation, he woke up and couldn't stop singing all
of amazing grace and that will be all the verses.
He drove my therapist nuts. He said, for my sister
and three brothers, Dad was our team. Captain Wayne said
(08:01):
he guided, protected and led our family every day, every
step of the way. And by the way, we would
love to hear your stories about your father, your mother.
And we love eulogies. I mean not that we love it.
There's a death, but there inevitably is for all of us.
And the eulogy is a summary of a life, written
by people closest to the person that's departed. And so
(08:25):
if you have a great eulogy in mind from a
family member or someone else, our favorite here on this show,
and I think there are two. Swen Nader, a player
who had played for John Wooden, wrote a poem for coach.
Swen was a poet, a great ballplayer, but a poet,
and it was spectacular. And then my favorite, my personal favorite,
(08:46):
was Jack Nicholas eulogizing Arnold Bamer and telling the world
what made Arnold special. So if you have those stories eulogies,
and if you have a recording, will be still my heart,
send it our way, send it to our America Stories
dot com. Wayne Gretzky eulogizes his father and one can
(09:06):
tell there was great love there. And when you have
a father's love and a mother's love. You're privileged, and
when you don't well enough, said Wayne Gretzky's eulogy of
his father. Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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