Villalva was the daughter of a physician, Luis Valdes, and her mother was Ninfa Teobald. She attended Loretto Academy, graduating in 1958. In 1969, she received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Later, she earned a master's degree in psychology from UTEP. Her PhD in social psychology was from the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan, she was influenced by the works of Paolo Freire and Erich Fromm. She was married to Antonio Villalva Sosa in 1963 in the Sacred Heart Church in Ciudad Juárez. After her marriage, they honeymooned in Mexico City and Acapulco and then settled in Juárez. Together they had three children, a son and two daughters. Villalva became very religious after a serious illness led to her being hospitalized in Houston, Texas. A former atheist, she had a religious conversion after her recovery. She became involved with the Catholic charismatic renewal.
