Were the parents of any of Dennis’ friends ever shown in the comic? I have a vague memory of having seen Joey’s mom in a few strips, but I’m not even sure that’s right. Do we know any of their names?
There are various adults who are shown, but no recurring adult characters with names except the long-suffering Mr. and Mrs. Wilson.
Henry and Alice Mitchell are the parents, Oliver “swede” Johnson is his grandfather.
Or so says Wiki, who also cite:
Uncle Fred and Aunt Mollie
Uncle Richard and Aunt Ginny
Uncle John lives in Florida. The Mitchells visited him once for a vacation.
Aunt Betty
Aunt Hetty
Aunt Sue
Also from Wiki:
George and Martha Wilson
John Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s brother.
Eloise Wilson is John’s wife, Mr. Wilson’s sister-in-law.
Earl Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s estranged son.
Elena Wilson is Earl’s wife.
Winnie Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s granddaughter and Earl’s daughter.
Walter “Walt” Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s grandson and Earl’s son.
Keith Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s grandson and Earl’s son.
Sammy Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s grandson and Earl’s son.
George Wilson, Jr. is Mr. Wilson’s son.
Edna Wilson is George Jr.'s wife.
Tammy Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s daughter.
George Wilson III is Mr. Wilson’s grandson.
Will Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s grandson.
Helga Wilson is Mr. Wilson’s granddaughter.
Plus friends of Dennis:
Tommy Anderson
Joey McDonald
Margaret Wade
Gina Gillotti
Joey’s mother and father were in at least one story, where they celebrated their anniversary. Don’t recall if their names were mentioned, though.
Henry, I believe it was (and not Alice), had an Uncle Ned, an elderly gentleman who was a physical fitness freak. When he came to visit, he had Henry and Mr Wilson running an obstacle course every morning after a cold shower (not together, of course).
Why would they shower before the workout?
None of the adults are recurring characters, nor have they been IN the strip in donkeys years. We see DtM’s teacher quite often, and she has no name, either.
Yep, as soon as they got out of bed at six o’clock. Hopefully, they took hot showers afterward.
John and Eloise Wilson did appear in the television show, though. John Wilson’s brother was George, and when Joe Kearns, who played George, died, Gale Gordon replaced him in the series as John, along with Sara Seegar as Eloise. In the storyline, George and Martha had moved and sold John their home. This was so that Dennis would still have a “Mr. Wilson” for a neighbor.
As to why, I guess it would be to get the blood flowing? 