Former radio host and activist April Kauffman — a woman known throughout the region as a tireless advocate for veterans — was at the high point of her life.

Earlier this month, Kauffman, who was found fatally shot in her Linwood home Thursday, had been chosen from a crowd of 1,400 nominees for a governor’s award for community service. And she had finally seen progress on her campaign to ensure that veterans would be able to seek medical care locally rather than traveling to a VA in Wilmington, Del.

“Literally, yesterday, she was telling me that this was the absolute best time of her life. She said getting the local medical care for veterans was her crowning achievement,” said Donna Clementoni, a friend and fellow veterans advocate who had just finished writing an articleon Kauffman’s recent achievements she hoped to have published. “She was such a light in this world, and she did so much good. I’m just absolutely shocked that she’s gone.”

April Kauffman, 47, was found dead inside the bedroom of her New Jersey home Thursday from "multiple gunshot wounds," according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.