Catalina Zavalza Peña was born in Cimarrón Chico de la Raicilla, Mascota, Jalisco, Mexico, on 3 January 1911 (claimed 28 December 1910).

On 5 November 1935, she married Miguel Chávez López (born 1 March 1910). They had at least four daughters.

Around the age of 95, she became blind. Her husband died in 2011, aged 101.

Catalina Zavalza Peña died in Mascota, Jalisco, Mexico on 13 January 2022 at the age of 111 years, 10 days. At the time of her death, her oldest living child, Sara, was almost 90 years old.