Maureen, born in Euston in 1903, was the second child of Selina and EJ Sykes.

She married Ken Ford in August 1929 in the sacristy of the Catholic Church (because Ken wasn’t a Catholic) (with the Bishop presiding) in Wentworth. Ken had been working in the Water Conservation and Irrigation Board in Wentworth, supervising the construction of the Curlwaa bridge and the irrigation of Dareton.
Maureen's daughter Selina says that Maureen boasted that the wedding feast went on for three days. They moved to 22 The Boulevard, Cammeray, Sydney, a Californian bungalow style house which they named ‘Tara’.

Jean Roper (nee Loomes) recalls how Maureen, shortly after their marriage, rang Maisie, in tears, worried that Ken had locked the door of his room because he was seeing a girlfriend. Maisie came down from Tara, to find Ken in a meeting with the local Anglican minister.
Jean remembers also that when Maureen once slipped into a channel, and, unable to find an adequate change of clothes, changed into Jean's school tunic, causing much hilarity. Maureen was also not concerned with decorum and would also go swimming while pregnant - something quite unusual, and, according to Jean, was embarrassing for Jean and her friends. Maureen, she says was "before her time".

Maureen, says Selina, got homesick for Wentworth so, not long after witnessing the opening opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Ken left the Irrigation Commission and they returned to Wentworth where Ken managed the hotel. EJ was re-elected as Mayor and returned to Wentworth. Maureen acted as hostess in September 1932 when the Governor of NSW Sir Phillip Game stayed at the pub (see photos). They hosted the Governor’s party and a lovely time was had by all. At the Governor's Ball, Des Sykes met Isabel McLeod for the first time.

Maureen managed the Commercial, spending a lot of time at Tara. Maureen and Ken Ford’s first child, Edwin John, was born in Mildura in 1933. Maureen Selina Joan (Selina) Ford was born in 1936 in Mildura. The license for the Commercial was transferred in 1936 to Ken Ford (EJ was, at that time, 62 years old). In 1939 the Fords returned to live in their house in Cammeray in Sydney with Margo Rafferty to help care for them, but when Selina started school Margo returned to Wentworth.

For more about the Ford family, see Margo Rafferty's recollections. For Maureen's descendants, see the Sykes family tree.