WASHINGTON — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood among cheering, crying colleagues to say goodbye this morning, over a year after she was gravely wounded by a would-be assassin.

Giffords had come to the well of the House to resign, a formality since she’d signaled her intention earlier, as she recovers from a gunshot wound to the head during a shooting rampage in her home district in Arizona.

It was one of the longer House goodbyes in recent times, as Democrats and Republicans lined up to see her off. A prolonged standing ovation followed a fusion of tributes and tears as colleagues praised her dignity and perseverance.

Surrounded by friends and colleagues and holding Rep. Jeff Flake’s hand, Giffords heard her close friend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, read her resignation letter to the chamber. In it, Giffords said she had “more work to do on my recovery before I can again serve in elected office.”

Last January, a gunman opened fire at Giffords’ “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, killing six people and wounding 13, including Giffords who suffered the gunshot wound.

After reading it, Wasserman Schultz helped Giffords slowly make her way to the podium where she handed the letter to a teary-eyed House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.