Complaints of too much work in the classroom presided over by the Rev. Louis S. Sedlacko fell on deaf ears.

"You'd say 'There's too much homework, father,' and he'd say, 'If you want to pass the course, you've got to study,'" said the Rev. Earl Henry, prior of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe and a onetime algebra student of Father Sedlacko's at the former St. Vincent Preparatory School.

Father Sedlacko, of Unity, who combined parish work with teaching and school administration for most of his working life, died Friday of pneumonia at the age of 91.

The prior said the students respected Father Sedlacko for his high classroom standards.

"When we received his body here, seven students from the prep school were here," Father Henry said. The prep school closed in the 1960s.

"One of them said, 'When he was headmaster, I was in his office every day, having been called in by him. He formed me in every way.' " That student grew up to be a pharmacist.

Yet, Father Henry said, the priesthood came first, and "teaching was the job he had at the abbey."

On weekends, he did substitute parish work, preaching, celebrating Mass and giving the sacraments.

Father Sedlacko, born in Hostetter, Westmoreland County, had a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Vincent College and completed his ordination studies at St. Vincent Seminary. He also did graduate work in math and chemistry at the University of Notre Dame.

He entered the Benedictine monastic community at the St. Vincent Archabbey in 1937, and was ordained in 1944.

He taught Latin, algebra and chemistry at St. Vincent Prep from 1940 to 1965, while taking on various administrative jobs beginning in 1942. He rose through the ranks to serve as headmaster of the school for 10 years.

Father Sedlacko later served in several administrative jobs at St. Vincent College, including director of admissions.

He also served as pastor of St. Boniface Parish in Chestnut Ridge from 1975 until his retirement in 1991.

But retirement didn't mean putting up his feet and relaxing.

"He was full of hobbies that had to do with nature and crops and gardens," Father Henry said. "This summer he has a crop in the garden at 91: tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, kohlrabies, dills, sage.

"He would say, 'I have to stop gardening.' At 89 he said, 'I'm going to plant six tomato plants. He planted 600," the prior added.

"He also harvested these things and gave them away and prepared tomato and onion salads for the monastery in the lounge rooms. He pickled peppers by the dozens and dozens of jars -- hots and sweets. ... He canned last year and there's still a stash of various kinds of pickled peppers and beets in his room. ...

"He was rather arthritic toward the end, so he was in his garden for hours but was not able to kneel or stand so he was on his rear. He was gardening on his rear!"

And when Father Sedlacko was not gardening or canning, he was cooking or making rosary beads out of seeds he harvested called Job's-tears.

Father Sedlacko also was a fisherman and hunter, using a crossbow in his later years, Father Henry said. He got a deer with a crossbow last year.

"He would make his own jerky," the prior said. "He gave that away, too."

Father Sedlacko is survived by three sisters, Helen Pavlock and Josephine Pavlock, both of McKeesport, and Magdalen Hertneky of Aliquippa.

A Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 this morning in the Archabbey Basilica by Archabbot Douglas R. Nowicki, followed by burial in St. Vincent Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Benedictine Health and Welfare Fund, St. Vincent Archabbey, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe, PA 15650-2690.