Walter Gretzky coached a young Wayne, who ended up setting N.H.L. scoring records that will never be matched, and became a role model for hockey parents.

OTTAWA — In an instant 30 years ago, a huge piece of Walter Gretzky’s legacy went missing.

Gretzky, the father of the greatest hockey player of all time, had an aneurysm while painting his mother’s farmhouse in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. An ambulance and a nearby hospital saved his life,