Lois Foutley-Dave (Laraine Newman), a nurse, is the lovely mother of Ginger and Carl. Although she's a nurturing mother to Ginger and Carl, she's also something of a strict disciplinarian, and doesn't hesitate to put her foot down when she feels it is necessary; for example, in Kiss and Make-up, Ginger, Dodie and Macie create their own make-up (or fake-up in their case) using crayons, pudding, and other household ingredients. Lois becomes furious at this blatant defiance, for she had already told Ginger that she was too young to wear make-up, and subsequently grounds Ginger without hearing her reasoning. However, with Carl, Lois seems to have adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" philosophy. Lois drives an old blue Volkswagen Beetle, which has an engine fire in the episode TGIF.
History[]
Before the beginning of the series, Lois was married to Jonas Foutley, who left her shortly after Carl's birth. Lois' love life remained dormant until Ms. Foutley's Boys, when she and Buzz (the plumber who fixed the Foutleys' mold problem in TGIF), develop a flirtatious relationship, later leading to Buzz and his three sons moving into the Foutley house, and becoming an annoyance by giving everything "a man's touch". Buzz continually uses the excuse "boys will be boys" to justify he and his sons' conduct, eventually leading Lois to break up with him.
A while after this, she then began seeing a coworker from the hospital, Dr. David Dave. He proposed to her in About Face and they were married in the series finale, The Wedding Frame.
It's worth noting that Lois kept Jonas' last name although they had been divorced for somewhere around ten years at the series' beginning.
Personality[]
Despite her beauty, Lois rarely feels ashamed or embarrassed about things, she has no qualms over being seen driving her old ("ancient" as the Griplings describe it) car. During ("The Nurses' Strike") she takes up house cleaning to earn money and makes it very clear that she does not feel ashamed in the slightest, even going so far as to accept the pity of the Griplings by cleaning their mansion. Her choice of words always mirror exactly what's on her mind without any effort avoid revealing embarrassing personal or family matters. Lois has a close relationship with her two children, possibly because she is a single mother and the family of three does not appear to have any other close relatives. She's often seen giving Ginger motherly advice or cheering her up in addition to being very supportive.
Despite demanding work and being relatively underprivileged, she still makes time to attend parent-teacher conferences and is able to allow Ginger to attend summer camp, attend a trip to New York City, and a ski resort trip. Although she gets annoyed with Carl and has grounded him, she allows him to be himself and tolerates his strange habits and activities. She is not a particularly religious or superstitious person as noted on more than one occasion. In (An "Even Steven" Holiday Special) she mentions that she does not feel "particularly religious" about her holiday celebrations. During the ("TGIF") Friday the 13th episode, she does not appear to to take Carl seriously on his belief that bad luck exists.
Appearance[]
Lois, like Ginger has red curly hair which she nearly always keeps in the same style. She is a bit short and slightly overweight. In one instance, Lois describes her appearance as "a bit wider" than she was at Ginger's age. Her most common dress consists of her white nurse's outfit as she's most commonly seen in the mornings, at work, or coming home.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Ginger Foutley: She has a very good relationship with her. Whenever Ginger is in a predicament, she tries her best to help her solve it. She gives Ginger some much needed advice at the right time. The two of them are very close and they love each other very much.
Carl Foutley: She has an up and down relationship with him. She consistently gets on him whenever he pulls off one of his schemes. He can be a bit of a head case, but she on only gets on him because she loves him. She also does it to look out for his safety.
Grandma Foutley: She didn't particularly get along with her late mother-in-law. The two of them would often disagree on things. However, they put their differences aside because they cared about the children.
Friends[]
Nurse Betty: She's seen talking to her while on her break on a few occasions. They get along well and they seem to enjoy each others company.
Romance[]
Jonas Foutley: The two of them are respectful to each other. They aren't together but they show mutual love for their kids. They both talked to each other while at a store in The Wedding Frame. While he was happy for her, he can't help but feel like he had something good and he let it slip away.
Dr. David Dave: The two of them first interacted in Hello Stranger. Since then, their relationship only grew from there. As the series went on, they became a couple and eventually got married.
Buzz Harris: She met him after her car broke down in TGIF. He helped discover a deadly mold in her house. In Ms. Foutley's Boys, they became a couple. After he and his sons cause all kinds of issues, Lois decided to end their relationship.
Others[]
Dodie Bishop and Macie Lightfoot: She gets along well with both of them. She knows that they're good friends with her daughter. In The Wedding Frame, she told them that they're like her adopted daughters showing how much she cares about them.
Courtney Gripling: She doesn't interact with her much. She knows about the history she has with Ginger. She doesn't see the moments where Courtney helps Ginger as the series progresses.
Joann Bishop: They have a love-hate relationship. They don't let their tension get in the way of their daughters' friendship. Most of the time Joann would prefer her family not be friends with the Foutleys. This is mainly because of Carl's antics.
Trivia[]
- Lois symbols what a mother is supposed to be: mature, responsible, fair, a caring and enjoy life the fullest before having a family of your own.
- Lois doesn't get along with both of her mother-in-laws.
- Many fans of the show wants Lois to be the #1 mom on Watchmojo top 10 Animated Moms.
- Many fans claimed that all mothers should be like Lois.
- Lois inspired young female fans to be a mother like her.
- Lois loses weight as the series progresses, she is a lot slimmer in season 3.
- Carl always refers to Lois as Lola and/or momster.
- Lois drives a blue 1970's Volkswagen Beetle. It is shown in Losing Nana Bishop, through a home movie made by Jonas Foutley, that she bought the car new. The engine catches fire in TGIF, but the car is repaired and back on the road by the next episode. The car is shown in many episodes (most notably Stealing First) to have a manual transmission. It is shown to be quite good in the snow in Stealing First and Blizzard Conditions. It is unknown why Lois would choose to drive a car over 20 years old with no air-conditioning when she could probably afford something newer and nicer.
- Lois' characteristics are very similar to Betty DeVille from “Rugrats”.
- Lois shares many similarities with another single parent, Raymundo Rocket from Rocket Power.
- Both are single parents (Lois is divorced while Ray's a widower) who end up getting remarried in their respective shows series finales.
- Both have the same type of two kids: their oldest child is a daughter who's typically the more mature and responsible one and their second/youngest child is a son who's pretty much the polar opposite of their daughter.
- Both had an exciting adventures in their youth before settling down and having a family.
- Both wear a white uniform for work.
- Both raised their kids very well and giving them fair punishments and lessons.
- Both have a good friend at work.
- Both can be described by others to be scary and aren't afraid to talk school authorities.
- Both drive older vehicles (Ray drives a 1962 Mercury Woody Wagon).
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