The year Marie Hatch moved into the wood-shingled cottage in tony Burlingame that she calls home, Harry Truman was president and “Goodnight Irene” was a radio hit. Her landlord and friend, Vivian Kruse, told her she could live in the cottage until she died.

Fast-forward 66 years. Kruse is dead, her daughter is dead, and her granddaughter is dead. They each passed down the lifetime guarantee of tenancy for Hatch — but when the final woman died, so did the verbal agreement, the current landlord says.

That’s why he is evicting Hatch, who is now 97, fighting cancer and long both single and retired from her bakery job. She says she will probably wind up in the street if she has to leave.

On Feb. 11, she was served with a 60-day notice to vacate the house or be tossed out by sheriff’s deputies. Tenant advocates say her plight is emblematic of a growing eviction and rent-hike horror overtaking non-homeowners in San Mateo County.