WASHINGTON >> U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka delivered a stoic but soulful aloha and mahalo  to his colleagues in the U.S. Senate Wednesday, capping a 22-year career in the nation’s most deliberative lawmaking body.

Including his work in the U.S. House of Representatives, the 88-year-old Akaka served 36 years in Washington. His resume also includes distinguished service in World War II after witnessing the bombing of Pearl Harbor as a high school senior. That changed his life forever. And he spoke of it and other events as a man in his winter years narrates his life.

In the way that senators often study their notes for a moment, adjust their glasses and then look up, he declared:

"Mr. President, I rise today to say aloha to this institution," Akaka said in his quiet, steady cadence, standing at his polished oak desk on the Senate floor. "I am humbled to know I am the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the Senate. The work of the United States Congress will never end. But careers come to a close. Like the great men whose names are etched here in this desk, I am humbled to know I have left my mark on this institution."

Akaka will complete his term in January, after lawmakers decide whether to resolve potentially perilous economic issues, collectively called the "fiscal cliff."

The senator first took time to recognize his "brother," U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

Inouye, 88, was still recovering in a hospital Wednesday from a fainting spell, but said in a statement, "My brother, Sen. Daniel Akaka, has been my friend, my partner in Washington for 36 years. I am sad at the thought of the Senate without him."

Together they constituted — pound-for-pound — one of the most powerful congressional delegations on Capitol Hill. They led Senate committees key to Hawaii: Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Indian Affairs. All are integral to Hawaii’s cultural and military life.

Akaka also acknowledged his wife, Millie.

"There is no one I owe more to than my lovely wife of 65 years, Millie," Akaka said. "She is literally there for me whenever I need her."

Akaka and Inouye arrived at the Senate during a different time, when compromise was the coin of the realm; when chasing TV cameras was gaudy; and filibusters were a sparingly used last resort.

Those days are gone.

"Today you have a time of absolutism," said Ted Lowi, retired Cornell University professor and author of two dozen books on American politics. "It’s warfare."

Akaka comes back to Hawaii not without scars. Time magazine once called him among the most ineffective senators.

But talk with other senators, and they describe an old-school lawmaker; a man of committees, where laws are written. The Senate floor was for performers, not for Akaka.

"He was a quiet man," said U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "He was a powerful force, one of the most decent people you’d ever want to meet here."

Hawaii will undeniably lose political capital with Akaka’s departure. But it has new resources and old reserves. Everyone knows of Inouye’s prominence. But there are green shoots: U.S. Sen.-elect Mazie Hirono is part of a newly developing coalition of Senate women bent on handshakes over brass knuckles.

U.S. Rep.-elect Tulsi Gabbard came from two military tours of the Middle East to serve in Washington.

Akaka, a grandfather of 15, leaves a legacy of advocacy for Native Hawaiians and veterans, but not one he considers complete.

The legislation that carries his name, the Akaka Bill, remains mired in Congress despite 12 years of attempts to pass it.

The bill would grant federal recognition to the Native Hawaiian people, but it has stalled mainly in the Senate, where conservative Republicans who oppose it as race-based discrimination have used arcane procedures to keep it from advancing.

The bill awaits action on the Senate floor. Supporters in the House are pushing their version as well. The four-member Hawaii delegation has made it clear that even though Akaka is retiring, this bill remains alive.

"The United States has recognized hundreds of Alaska Native and American Indian communities," Akaka said. "It is long past time for the Native Hawaiian people to have the same rights, the same privileges, and the same opportunities as every other federally recognized native people."

Akaka will also be remembered for his support of veterans.

As a former chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, he shepherded a raft of new reforms meant to loosen the logjams that block medical care and educational benefits.

"I want to say mahalo nui loa," he told his colleagues.

Once done in the Senate, Akaka will return to his beloved Hawaii and his still growing family with great-grandchild No. 16 on the way.

On Wednesday morning in the Senate, he folded his letters and said quietly, "I’ll be home for that."