For many years, Jo Ann Murphy has attended the annual ceremony recognizing the Veterans’ Services Officer of the Year.

She’d sit in the audience, among veterans’ advocates from every part of the state, and they’d wonder aloud, “How do you think they got that?”

This year, she learned the answer when she heard she was named Massachusetts Veterans’ Services Officer of the Year for her work to support veterans in the Vineyard community.

“It was a shock,” she said this week.

Ms. Murphy is the only veterans’ service officer in the state to serve an entire county. Though the exact number is unknown, she estimates that between 400 and 500 Islanders have served in the armed forces, and many of them come to see her for help filing for benefits and getting the peer and professional support they need.

As she tells it, 13 years ago, Ms. Murphy fell into her present role after her predecessor, Hank Decoteau, retired. The position was advertised, but no one came forward to apply. Mr. Decoteau told her she was going to apply. A veteran herself, Ms. Murphy held the position of commander at the American Legion at the time.

“I said, are you nuts?” she recalled. “And he goes, Jo Ann, you’d be perfect. So I have him to thank.”

Ms. Murphy was honored in a ceremony in late October, and state secretary of veterans services Coleman Nee presented the award.

“We have lots of great service officers, and this is never an easy decision, but frankly when we just looked at all of the criteria and the list of Jo Ann’s accomplishments, she rose to the top,” Mr. Nee said by phone this week.

He said Ms. Murphy had increased access to services for Vineyard veterans and their families dramatically, especially in her work to secure a contract with the Veteran’s Administration to treat veterans at the Vineyard hospital.

He added that Island veterans routinely contact his office to sing her praises.

“She is just so personable, so attentive, and so passionate about helping them that they really appreciate the work she does and appreciate the fact that she continues to honor them for their service,” he said.

Ms. Murphy works 30 hours a week, attending to a diverse number of tasks, including planning the Memorial Day parade, helping to coordinate the Veterans Day activities, and attending to veterans’ graves.

Years ago, she organized a salute to World War II veterans in an Islandwide ceremony, a high point of her tenure, she said.

“The legion was so packed; it was standing room only,” she said, adding that some of the veterans, who were presented with framed certificates, were brought to tears.

Just last month, she helped coordinate a homecoming for an Army pilot who had been deployed to Afghanistan.

But it’s the daily work she does with veterans that keeps her going, she said.

“You never know what is going to come in the door and who is going to call you,” she said.