This Bluefield native grew up in Mount Hope (Fayette County). Her father, a coal miner and minister, insisted she learn music. She started playing piano at age six. By age nine, she was playing for her father’s church services. She also learned from Eunice B. Fleming, the first Black person to give a master's recital at Marshall University.

While in college, she was afraid of drifting too far from her gospel roots, so she formed The Collegiate Gospel Choir of West Virginia Tech. The school's music director didn't like her side group, but that just made it more popular.

She moved to Charleston in the '70s and started a choir of 70 to 80 young people. She took two busloads of them to sing in Washington, D.C., in 1979. She said it was important to reach people who love music but don’t always hear it often.

Ethel Caffie-Austin was recognized for her many achievements. She

• founded the Black Sacred Music Festival

• recorded her own CDs and instructional videos, like Learn to Play Gospel Piano

• earned the Vandalia Award in 2006

• was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2020

Because of all her accomplishments, she earned the title "West Virginia's First Lady of Gospel Music."