School honors grads by stitching 9/11 memorial flag

An American flag that flew from the building, where Ferguson was president of an investment firm, was nearly destroyed by fire and debris. But it was reborn as the National 9/11 Flag, with a goal of having its stars and stripes restored to its original glory by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

On March 24, the 30-foot flag will be at St. John’s Preparatory School, Ferguson’s alma mater, on a national journey to stitch the flag back together. The public is invited to participate in the stitching ceremony from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium.

Ferguson, who was 54 when he died, graduated from the Catholic high school for boys in 1964. Both Ferguson and his wife, the former Mary Lobao, grew up down the street from the Prep’s leafy campus.

“The Prep and the whole neighborhood meant a lot to us,’’ Mary Ferguson said, noting that her father also graduated from the school. “I think the idea of people coming together, to stitch this flag, is a positive thing for our country.’’

Edward P. Hardiman, the school principal, said St. John’s is honored to host the historic stitching ceremony.

“It’s a privilege for our school to host this flag,’’ Hardiman said. “Sept. 11 was a monumental event in the life of our country. This is an important anniversary coming up.’’

St. John’s is the only Massachusetts stop on the tour organized by the New York Says Thank You Foundation. The nonprofit formed after the attacks to help other communities recover from disaster. As a salute to community service, the foundation is accepting nominations for local heroes to place an honorary stitch in the flag, before the general public gets a turn. Nominations will be accepted through Thursday online at www.national911flag.org.

The family of Martin Luther King Jr. made an honorary stitch on a stop in Atlanta. On Pearl Harbor Day in Hawaii, veterans made a stitch during a visit to the USS Missouri battleship memorial. Other stitches have been made by local police, fire, and Scout troops.

“It’s everyday heroes we’re looking for,’’ said Carolyn Deters, a tour organizer. “We’re not overly critical about who we accept for nominations. Everyone is heroic in some way.’’

In Danvers, the flag will be escorted by an honor guard from the New York City Fire Department. Members of St. John’s student council will serve as ushers to assist the public. The school’s concert band will play the national anthem and the school chorus will perform.

“This is an opportunity for us to pay tribute to our alumni who died on 9/11,’’ Hardiman said.

Other St. John’s graduates known to have died in the attacks were Raymond J. Metz III of Boxford, class of 1982, and Sean P. Lynch of Lynnfield, class of 1985. Metz was 37, a father of two girls who worked as a currency broker at Euro Brokers Inc. Lynch, who was 34 and single, was a senior vice president of equity trading at Cantor Fitzgerald Co.

Their parents say they are honored that the school will participate in a national memorial.

“I think it’s a very nice gesture,’’ said Raymond J. Metz Jr., who now lives in North Andover. “I’ll go, but I’ll be in tears. There is no closure.’’

His son had a deep affinity for St. John’s, where he was a hurdler on the track team, his father said.

“He loved it,’’ said Metz. “He got a good education. . . . St. John’s really taught respect for others. . . . There was just a nice feeling there.’’

Margaret Lynch said her son also had a special love for the school.

“He was very proud to have gone there,’’ she said, noting her son played team and intramural sports. “Now my grandsons go there, so that’s part of his legacy, too.’’

Lynch said she plans to attend the stitching ceremony with her daughter. Her son would have turned 44 on March 4.

“It’s another way we can remember him,’’ she said.

When the flag was removed from 90 West St., it was torn, stained, and smelled of smoke. The plan was to have it honorably retired. But the New York Says Thank You Foundation had another idea.

“We said, ‘Why bury it? Why not bring it back to life?’ ’’ said Jeff Parness, founder of the nonprofit. “We’re all about transforming tragedy into something good.’’

Volunteers brought the flag with them on a trip to Greensburg, Kan. The small town had been hit hard by tornadoes. A group of women at the town’s senior center were asked to help stitch the flag. They suggested using smaller American flags salvaged from the tornado rubble to fill holes in the New York flag.

“Those ladies literally created a new piece of American history,’’ Parness said.

The flag has been displayed around the country, including at Fenway Park in June 2009 and at a Boston Pops concert in Symphony Hall last spring. In January, the flag hung from two fire ladder trucks at the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, a 9-year-old girl born on Sept. 11, 2001, who was killed by a gunman who opened fire on Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

An estimated 50,000 stitches are needed to restore the flag to its original 13-stripe format. Patches of fabric from retired American flags from all 50 states will be sewn into the flag. A Pennsylvania museum contributed a piece of a flag used to support Abraham Lincoln’s head on the night he was shot. The Florida state patch was sewn on by wounded veterans in a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center. When completed, the flag will become part of a memorial at Ground Zero.

Mary Ferguson placed her first stitch on the flag during a stop in New Jersey, where the couple lived.

“It’s amazing to me how many people are really interested in putting a stitch,’’ said Ferguson, who will be in Danvers for the ceremony. “There was a huge line of people. Some of them were veterans. Some of them had suffered their own losses. . . . It was really very moving.’’

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com