The Love Seat : Romance: A bench at Loyola Marymount honoring a long-married couple is a monument to enduring relationships.

On cool nights, while the Jesuit priests studied their esoteric theological texts nearby, Truck and Marjory kissed.

It was the late 1930s and Truck--his real name is John Patrick Hanna--was a football player at Loyola Marymount University. Marjory Campbell was his beloved, and they would meet on the Westchester bluffs beside the dormitory that housed the Jesuits at the Catholic university.

“Every now and then one of the priests would catch us with a flashlight,” Hanna recalled. “But it was really not a big deal.”

The couple later married and went on to have 11 children. And though Marjory is gone--she died in 1990--a bluff-side bench commemorates their amorous spirit, where the couple talked about their future, in between the kisses.

But this is no ordinary bench, for it comes with its own instructions. A bronze plaque on it reads: “Intended for occupancy by couples of marriageable age with reasonable expectations that their present relationship may lead to holy matrimony and that, in this beautiful setting, they may seriously discuss the future and such other matters of mutual interest.”

The bench was dedicated three years ago by the university in honor of Hanna and his wife, who were married for 48 years. The dedication ceremony came after Marjory succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease.

Hanna, a retired high school coach now living in Woodland Hills, regularly visits the bench and often thinks of his wife there.

“She was a wonderful human being,” Hanna, now 73, said. “I miss her terribly.”

He is also gratified that LMU students seem to be enjoying the bench.

“I’ve gone out there, and by God, the thing is used,” he said. “You see guys and gals sitting out there. It makes me feel pretty good.

“I went out there once and talked to a gal who said she got married after she’d been there,” he added. “She said she sat on that bench and all of a sudden, she met a guy and they fell in love.”

It’s difficult to know how many engagements and marriages the bench has spawned. In spite of its picturesque location, the bench and its background don’t seem terribly well-known among current students.

But for some, it has a special allure.

Ralph Consola, LMU assistant director of alumni relations, planned to propose to his girlfriend at the bench after a Christmas Mass at the adjacent Sacred Heart Chapel. But a large crowd milling about the bluffs after the service made Consola nervous, and he moved to a more isolated spot to pop the question. (She said yes, and they married in October.)

“I knew about the bench from working in the office. It sounded like a perfect place to propose,” said Consola, who met his wife at LMU. “I’d like to see it become a tradition on campus.”

And some who haven’t found the right person yet hope it will play a role in their courtship someday.

“I have this secret desire that someone would know that the bench is there and we would spend some time out there,” said Janice Burrill, a university fund-raising official. “I’m a bit of a romantic.”

Even though students rarely marry in their early 20s as they did in Hanna’s day, the bench still brings out the romantic in many people. Humanities major Faith DeVeaux said a young man from a chapel wedding spotted her sitting alone on Hanna’s bench, and made his pickup move--unsuccessfully.

“I always seem to meet men up here,” said DeVeaux. “But mostly, I like to come up here and just think about how lucky I am to be alive and how beautiful it is up here.”

Hanna said he doesn’t mind if anyone other than marriage-minded couples sit on his bench “just as long as the students don’t put any chewing gum underneath it.”

The idea for the bench originated with one of Hanna’s LMU classmates, Joseph Leggett, who donated $1,000 for its installation. Best friends today, Leggett wanted to honor his college buddy and his wife.

“It’s a great tribute to a magnificent couple, Truck and Marjory,” Leggett said. Leggett, who drives Hanna to the campus three or four times a year, said they usually reminisce about their college days.

When Hanna was a student, he had a room that overlooked the same area as where the bench is today.

“I wanted the bench there because of all the time I lived there--and I had a window looking out over that beautiful view--I don’t think I spent 10 minutes looking out there.”

Recently, Hanna has been dating again, but says he’s not sure if he will ever want to remarry. If he ever has a “reasonable expectation” of matrimony, however, he said he would propose at the bench.

“(But) I don’t think I’d get down on my knees,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be able to get back up.”