During World War II, he served in the United States Marine Corps and was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Yourell was elected a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago in 1988 and re-elected in 1994 and 2000.
Yourell resigned from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago on November 30, 2006.
[6] Yourell died at the Alexis Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
Yourell was the Democratic Committeeman of Worth Township at the time of his election to the Illinois House of Representatives.