Born as the penultimate child in a family of 10 children borne by Anton and Marija Gabrscek in Deskle, Slovenia, Marinič became a refugee with her family in 1915 and consequently moved to Austria. The family later returned in 1918. While in Austria, Marinič worked in a Vienna chocolate factory and went to a culinary school in Bruck.
Katarina Marinič had no children with her husband, Rudolf Marinič, whom she married in 1929. Rudolf died in 1967.
Today, Marinič lives in a nursing home with five nephews and a niece living in Italy who is over 100 years old.
Marinič is a rare example of a supercentenarian from Slovenia, where records tend to (but are not always) scarce. She, notably, moved straight from the "unverified supercentenarians" list into the validated supercentenarians list (Table E), having been validated by Silvo Torkar of Austria-Hungary.
3 September 2010 - Marinič is dead. Her death on 2 September 2010 means she finishes her life at 110 years, 307 days old. The death was reported on Yahoo's World's Oldest People group (registration required to enter).