He had spent many years working in a paper mill, a coal mine, a quarry, as a gravedigger's helper and making ends meet on a small farm doing odd jobs for wealthier farmers. And, he sculpted. He had no idea what a surprise life had in store for him. One day, Wawro’s wife decided to sell his sculptures to the owner of a nearby manor. The buyer’s name was Emil Zegadłowicz, a well-known poet and novelist. Not only did he start buying Wawro’s sculptures but would exhibit them in his house. Fascinated with the sculptor, he wrote ‘Ballada o Wowrze, powsinodze beskidzkim, świątkarzu, o Bogu prawdziwym i Chrystusie frasobliwym rzeźbiącym patrona Beskidu’ (A Ballad About Wowra, a Gadabout from Beskid, Sculptor of Religious Figures, About the True God and Pensive Christ who Sculpted the Patron of Beskid). It was enough for Wawro, who had a talent for sculpting, great imagination and storytelling skills, to become famous. He used to say that he felt ‘as if he talked to God, our Lord’ when he sculpted.