Teresa June Adams Lanz of Crossville, TN, passed away peacefully at her daughter’s home
just 5 days short of her 107 th birthday. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday,
June 13, 2026, at Oak Hill Baptist Church in Crossville at 2 p.m. with Dr. Jim Mersereau
officiating. The family will receive friends at the church from 1 p.m. until the start of the
service at 2 p.m. Burial will be immediately following in the Oak Hill Cemetery, with a
reception for family and friends in the church Fellowship Hall following the burial service.
Teresa was born on June 9, 1919, in Hardy, Ark., to Clyde Dale Adams and Elva Cagle
Billingsley Adams. She grew up in Searcy, Ark., and was valedictorian of her high school
class. She also won the regional Latin award for Searcy High. Teresa worked as a telephone
operator for Southern Bell before her marriage and becoming a homemaker for her husband
and children. She was an avid reader and loved to play Scrabble.
Teresa was preceded in death by her husband, Roy H. Lanz, her son, Alwyn R. Lanz, and her
siblings, Fern Adams Caldwell, Doris Adams Wirth, Troy Louis Billingsley, Carl Dale Adams,
Myrtice Adams Beck, Anna Rose Adams Caraway, and William Henry Adams. She is
survived by her daughters, Janet Lanz Masters and her husband, Mike, of Raleigh, NC;
Melissa Kathleen Lanz of Franklin, TN; daughter-in-law, Jeanne Lanter Lanz of Lexington, KY;
and several nieces and nephews.
Hood Funeral Home LLC (www.hoodfuneralhome.com) is in charge of arrangements.