On Wednesday, February 4, Local 218 (Springfield, Ill.) member Renato Favero passed away at the age of 102 years old. In a fitting tribute to his long life as a World War II veteran, sheet metal worker and family man, he was surrounded by loved ones.
A lifetime of service
When Brother Favero was a little over 18 years old, he answered a call.
It was the early 1940s, and along with millions of fellow Americans, Favero was drafted into the United States military in the allied fight against fascism. He spent four years in the service during World War II, mostly in Germany. And when he returned, he had a career waiting for him.
“I went to work in 1941, and I worked about a year. Then Uncle Sam called me,” Favero explained in an interview with SMART conducted just before his passing. “So I spent four years in Europe. Then I came home, and I went to work for Pruitt.”
That happened 80 years ago. Favero was a proud, dues-paying member from August 1941 until he passed away.
From serving America to building America
Before joining the military, Favero worked as a union sheet metal worker at Henson Robinson Company, where he met a fellow employee named Ed Pruitt.
It was a fortuitous relationship. When Favero returned from Europe, Pruitt had his own sheet metal company, and he offered his old coworker a job.
“He said, ‘I’ll pay you journeyman wages.’ I said, ‘[I don’t] have enough experience to be a journeyman.’ And he says, ‘I’ll still pay you journeyman wages,’” Favero recalled. “I worked for him for 45 years doing sheet metal work. Putting in heating and cooling systems for just about any building in the city.”
“I mean, I didn’t do ‘em all,” he added. “[But] I helped with a lot, quite a few.”
Power plants, public buildings, the changing landscape of Illinois’ capital city — throughout his decades with the tools, Favero and his fellow union brothers and sisters helped build it all.
“I did a lot of nice work … on a lot of big buildings [where I] was in charge of putting in all the air conditioning and all the ventilation systems and everything,” he said.
The American dream
Favero grew up in a family of 11 children, doing farm work and helping look after the family’s five cows. He played football, basketball and baseball, and he made the honor roll throughout high school. His mother, an immigrant from Europe, pushed her children to study hard — she learned English while Favero was still a student.
Coming out of high school, Favero said, everyone wanted to enter the trades. So that’s exactly what he did. And over the course of his career, that choice paid off. Favero lived on the same piece of land for his entire life. He was able to provide for his family throughout his career — children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In the trade, he found both a living and a passion, making birdhouses and other artistic works out of metal and copper.
That’s the American dream.
Brother Favero retired when he was 61 years old. And to the very end of his life, he made the most of the camaraderie that defines union membership. He went to the Local 218 Retirees’ Club Christmas party in December 2025, and he kept in touch with many of his brothers and sisters over the decades.
“I started right from high school, [and] I enjoyed it all the time. I loved it,” he told SMART.
SMART mourns Brother Favero’s passing, and we send our thoughts and prayers to his family.
