Shirley and John Walsh on the steps of Leland Powers School

My parents met at Leland Powers in Boston. I don't know if this is a school photograph or not. The mystery, at least to me, is what happened to the person above my father whose face has been scraped away? My mother Shirley is on the lowest step (left) and my father John Walsh on the same step (right). One of my mother's friends from Hawaii, Barbara (Bappy) Pickup, is sitting on the top step. Circa 1948.