Phyllis Gretzky was laid to rest in her hometown of Brantford, Ontario Thursday morning, in a ceremony attended by hundreds of tearful mourners.

Former hockey star Paul Coffey and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman were among the crowd of hundreds who gathered at Brantford's Grace Anglican Church Thursday.

In his eulogy, Wayne Gretzky made clear the magnitude of his family's personal loss. She may not have been in the limelight, he said, but she was still the limelight of their clan.

According to Mayor Mike Hancock, Brantford is also stinging from the loss of a woman revered for more than the fact she bred and raised hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky.

"This whole city is on mourning, there's absolutely no doubt about it," Hancock told CTV News.

"This is about a family that has been a part of our city, and contributed so much to our city, for such a long time. I think we all feel we lost a family member here today."

Flags on Brantford's municipal buildings were raised to half mast on Tuesday, in honour of the matriarch who died after a year-long battle with lung cancer and a recent bout of pneumonia on Monday night. She was 64.

Friends remembered Phyllis Gretzky as the "glue" that held her family together, more concerned with caring for all of her children than stepping into Wayne's spotlight. She loved Bingo and time with friends, and was not even a hockey fan, Gretzky wrote in his 1990 autobiography.

Nevertheless, she had a major impact on his career.

"Throughout my career, she was in the background but she was the glue," Gretzky said at the time of her diagnosis. "She's always been the toughest in the family."

The hockey star has always spoken highly of his mother, telling interviewers stories of just how far she was willing to go for her children. In one, he recalled how she went without drapes so he could have a new pair of skates.

That encouragement spurred her son to go on to four Stanley Cup wins in Edmonton with the Oilers.

Born Phyllis Hockin, Mrs. Gretzky was raised in Paris, Ont.

Her husband Walter, who she met at a wiener roast at his family farm when she was 15, is known across the country as a hockey ambassador. He was then 18.

"I took one look and knew she was the one for me,'' Walter Gretzky wrote in his book On Family, Hockey and Healing.

They married three years later, settling in the Brantford home they never left, despite their son's wealth.

Walter's book also documented his wife's assistance in helping him recover from a 1991 aneurysm that erased parts of his memory.

She died at Brantford General Hospital surrounded by her family, including her five children.

Wayne took a leave of absence from his job coaching the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday when it became clear his mother was gravely ill. She had been admitted to hospital last Thursday.