Gwendolyn Cotterell-Eidukonis was born in April 1964 in Jamaica, West Indies. Her parents, both farmers, lived in the country on a small farmland in a little village called Peace River. Gwendolyn is from a very large family and is the seventh of twelve children. Following her graduation from Bellefield Secondary School, Gwendolyn went to work at a local chocolate manufacturing company as Accountant Assistant. While there she attended West Indies College part-time and received an Associate degree in Business Administration with a major concentration in accounting. In 1995, Gwendolyn migrated to the United States in search of a better opportunity.
Several months after her arrival in the United States, Gwendolyn found herself homeless and alone with a one-month-old infant who was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome and a heart disease at birth. She found shelter and support in one of the Good Counsel Homes in Poughkeepsie, New York. Upon the death of her seven-month-old daughter, Gwendolyn went to work as a live-in aide to an elderly woman and a year later when the elderly woman died, she was hired by Good Counsel Homes as Assistant House Manager at the residence in Norwalk, Connecticut. When controls of this residence were taken over by Malta House a few years later, Gwendolyn stayed on with the new company and later became the Business Manager and Full Charge Bookkeeper.
Gwendolyn married Steven Eidukonis in October 2005, two months after they closed on the purchase of their new home. Eighteen months later, their daughter, a beautiful and precious bundle of joy, was born. Gwendolyn and her family went through a series of financial hardships for a couple of years before filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2012, a few months before Gwendolyn received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a major concentration in Accounting from DeVry University Online Campus.
Upon receipt of her four-year degree, Gwendolyn gained employment as Senior Accountant at Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now (NEON), a community action agency in Norwalk, Connecticut. Six months later, she was promoted to the position of Comptroller. Twenty months into her employment with this company, NEON declared bankruptcy and terminated Gwendolyn along with all the other employees. Seven weeks later, Gwendolyn was hired by the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, as Capital Projects/Fixed Assets Manager and is currently still working within this capacity.
Gwendolyn felt inspired to write and to share her personal story during a Bible Study at her church shortly after Jesus appeared to her in a dream one night and imparted a very special gift to her. Her first book entitled, “Beholding His Glory: A Journey Side by Side with Jesus,” was published in September 2015. Gwendolyn continued her inspired writing when in July 2016, Jesus told her in a dream that He had placed books inside of her and that she will need to “vomit them up.” Gwendolyn obediently poured out a two-book series, The Joys of Heaven: Part 1, Faith for Change in America, and The Joys of Heaven: Part II, A Closer Walk with God. These two books were published in July and August 2017.
Gwendolyn’s newest book, Gwen’s Book of Dreams, released on February 13, 2024, is a collection of many dreams over the years starting with November 2011 when she saw Jesus for the first time standing in the clouds, a gigantic nail protruding from the top of each foot. In this new release, Gwendolyn shared her powerful call to ministry along with many other prophetic dreams, some of which have already been fulfilled. All of Gwendolyn’s books are available on Amazon and numerous other online bookstores.
